TO: All GCN Notice recipients RE: FERMI Pointing Direction Notice is available DT: 21 Feb 09 INTRODUCTION: The Fermi spacecraft Pointing Direction GCN Notice is now available. They are available by the socket method and the email-based (full format & cell/pager formats) methods. The Fermi spacecraft observes the sky with a zenith-pointing orientation with an additional north-south nodding motion of +- ~30 deg (one orbit biased to the northern hemisphere and the next orbit biased to the southern hemisphere). The GCN/FERMI_POINTING_DIRECTION Notice gives the current RA,Dec pointing direction at the time of the issuance of the notice and for another 29 samples extrapolated into the future every 2 minutes. This notice type is issued every 60 minutes. This pointing information is obtained from the Fermi MOC. On rare occaisions the actual spacecraft pointing direction will deviate from the planned pointing direction because of a TOO or when the spacecraft repoints in response to a GBM burst detection. GROUND-BASED OBSERVATION STRATEGIES: (This is useful mostly for robotic telescopes) The RA,Dec information in this notice can be used (a) to obtain pre-burst images by having your telescope "follow along" (granted image tiling is needed given the large FOV of the FERMI instruments); or at the very least, (b) it can be used to reduce the slew-time of your telescope to the new burst target. (This completes the set of Pointing Direction Notice types for the INTEGRAL, Swift, AGILE, and Fermi spacecraft.) ACTION ITEM: If you want to receive this FERMI Pointing Direction notice type, please send me a request to have them enabled. (And/or if you have any other changes to your configuration.) You can do this by forwarding this email to scott@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov NOTICE CONTENT: An example of the FERMI Pointing Direction Notice (full-format email) is given below. The GCN/FERMI_POINTING_DIRECTION Notice gives the current RA,Dec pointing direction at the time of the notice and for another 29 samples extrapolated into the future every 2 minutes. There is also a flag indicating when the s/c is in the SAA. TITLE: GCN/FERMI NOTICE NOTICE_DATE: Sat 21 Feb 09 20:39:28 UT NOTICE_TYPE: Fermi Pointing Direction CURR_POINT_RA: 284.48d {+18h 57m 56s} (J2000), 284.68d {+18h 58m 43s} (current), 283.40d {+18h 53m 36s} (1950) CURR_POINT_DEC: -58.54d {-58d 32' 26"} (J2000), -58.53d {-58d 31' 40"} (current), -58.61d {-58d 36' 28"} (1950) CURR_DATE: 14883 TJD; 52 DOY; 09/02/21 CURR_TIME: 74400.00 SOD {20:40:00.00} UT DELTA_TIME: 120 [sec] SUN_POSTN: 335.28d {+22h 21m 07s} -10.28d {-10d 16' 32"} SUN_DIST: 61.43 [deg] Sun_angle= 3.4 [hr] (West of Sun) MOON_POSTN: 299.56d {+19h 58m 14s} -21.86d {-21d 51' 51"} MOON_DIST: 38.20 [deg] MOON_ILLUM: 10 [%] GAL_COORDS: 337.67,-23.71 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the pointing direction ECL_COORDS: 279.23,-35.56 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the pointing direction FUTURE_RA_DEC: 296.2d -59.8d (J2000) - 74520.00 SOD {20:42:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 308.6d -60.5d (J2000) - 74640.00 SOD {20:44:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 321.2d -60.4d (J2000) - 74760.00 SOD {20:46:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 333.6d -59.7d (J2000) - 74880.00 SOD {20:48:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 345.3d -58.3d (J2000) - 75000.00 SOD {20:50:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 356.2d -56.4d (J2000) - 75120.00 SOD {20:52:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 6.2d -54.0d (J2000) - 75240.00 SOD {20:54:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 15.4d -51.3d (J2000) - 75360.00 SOD {20:56:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 23.8d -48.3d (J2000) SAA 75480.00 SOD {20:58:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 31.6d -45.2d (J2000) SAA 75600.00 SOD {21:00:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 38.8d -41.9d (J2000) SAA 75720.00 SOD {21:02:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 45.7d -38.7d (J2000) SAA 75840.00 SOD {21:04:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 52.3d -35.4d (J2000) SAA 75960.00 SOD {21:06:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 58.7d -32.3d (J2000) - 76080.00 SOD {21:08:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 64.9d -29.2d (J2000) - 76200.00 SOD {21:10:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 71.0d -26.2d (J2000) - 76320.00 SOD {21:12:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 66.9d -2.3d (J2000) - 76440.00 SOD {21:14:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 58.0d +33.4d (J2000) - 76560.00 SOD {21:16:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 55.1d +49.7d (J2000) - 76680.00 SOD {21:18:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 63.1d +52.7d (J2000) - 76800.00 SOD {21:20:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 71.8d +55.6d (J2000) - 76920.00 SOD {21:22:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 81.3d +58.2d (J2000) - 77040.00 SOD {21:24:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 92.0d +60.5d (J2000) - 77160.00 SOD {21:26:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 103.6d +62.3d (J2000) - 77280.00 SOD {21:28:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 116.3d +63.5d (J2000) - 77400.00 SOD {21:30:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 129.6d +64.0d (J2000) - 77520.00 SOD {21:32:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 143.0d +63.7d (J2000) - 77640.00 SOD {21:34:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 156.0d +62.7d (J2000) - 77760.00 SOD {21:36:00.00} UT FUTURE_RA_DEC: 168.1d +61.1d (J2000) - 77880.00 SOD {21:38:00.00} UT COMMENTS: Fermi Pointing Direction. COMMENTS: The Sun & Moon distances and the GAL/ECL_COORDS are at the time of the CURR_POINT. COMMENTS: The FUTURE columns are Ra, Dec, SAA_flag, Time (Sec-of-Day and hh:mm:ss.ss UT). COMMENTS: Most of the discontinuities in the pointing direction are when the s/c 'nods' between hemispheres. COMMENTS: The LAT FOV is ~100deg diameter. MORE INFORMATION: Can be found at: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/fermi.html The socket packet contents can be found at: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/sock_pkt_def_doc.html FUTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Fermi-LAT Instrument Team is progressing towards releasing to the public the LAT_UPDATE_POSITION and the LAT_GND_TRIG_POSITION notice types. Stay tuned. Sincerely, Scott Scott Barthelmy NASA-GSFC, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771 PHONE: 301-286-3106 (office) CELL: 301-346-3733 FAX: 301-286-1684 (1st choice, -1682 2nd choice) EMAIL: scott@lheamail.gsfc.nasa.gov PAGER: 3013463733@cingularme.com WEB: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn