GCN/TAN Pointing Direction Notices

Introduction several of the missions provide the pointing direction information (ie their observing plan) ahead of time, so it is possible to turn this information onto GCN/TAN Notices for each mission. These Notices are generated and distributed just prior to the spacecraft slewing to a new pointing direction (or periodicaly for those drift-scanning spacecraft). The Pointing Direction Notices allow a ground-based telescopes to "follow along" and observe the same location on the sky, thereby getting data prior to the onset of the GRB/transient, or at the very least, be already "on target" thus minimizing the slewing time should a burst occur.

TABLE 1: Missions with Pointing Direction Notices
MISSION OBS MODE TIME PRIOR TO SLEW PERIODIC UPDATES

INTEGRAL Pointed 60 sec n/a

Swift Pointed 30-60 sec n/a

AGILE Drift Scan n/a 8 hr

Fermi Drift Scan n/a 30 min

**TABLE 1: Missions with Pointing Direction Notices**
MISSION	OBS MODE	TIME PRIOR TO SLEW	PERIODIC UPDATES
INTEGRAL	Pointed	60 sec	n/a
Swift	Pointed	30-60 sec	n/a
AGILE	Drift Scan	n/a	8 hr
Fermi	Drift Scan	n/a	30 min

INTEGRAL Pointing Direction Notices:

Swift Pointing Direction Notices:

AGILE Pointing Direction Notices:

Fermi Pointing Direction Notices:

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This file was last modified on 08-Sep-08.