HINODE POINTING FILE INFORMATION
(Courtesy A. Sterling)
(return to Hinode pointing file access page)
The first two-line block (example below) gives the start and end times (From ... To) for the given planning schedule. The final 24 hours (approximately) of this period is for the "backup plan"; nominally this backup-plan period will be overwritten with the subsequent plan (the next day, or two days later if the current day is Saturday; Hinode does no planning activities on Sunday), but we include this period in case some problem prevents us from doing the upload the following day (or two days later if Saturday).
MAIN BLOCK
MAIN BLOCK: COLUMN 0
This tells the action that is to take place. Pointing changes are given in the
"ORe-point Start" rows.
MAIN BLOCK: COLUMN 1
UT date of start of new pointing.
MAIN BLOCK: COLUMN 2
UT time of start of new pointing. (Useful observations may start up to
approximately 5 min later than this time).
MAIN BLOCK: COLUMN 3
(Tracking Curve No.): We define a "tracking curve" for every position on the Sun to be tracked during a given observing-plan period (the bottom two blocks, discussed further below, give the definitions of the tracks). Up to four tracks can be defined for any single plan period. That is, during any given planning period, up to four (but no more than four) different regions on the Sun can be set to be tracked. These curves are arbitrarily assigned a number of 1, 2, 3, or 4. In addition, we are able to do "fixed pointing," in which case we assign a tracking curve no. of 0 (sic. - technically it is improper to call 0 a "tracking curve number," since 0 means we do not track, but that is the way we have it defined).
MAIN BLOCK: COLUMN 6 and 7
Skip past the "Offset-X and Offset-Y columns for a moment, and look at the next two columns. These next two columns give the pointing locations, as of the times specified in the Date and Time columns of the same row, in arcseconds in heliocentric coordinates. That is, these columns give the pointing location (in understandable form) at the time the pointing starts (as specified by the Date and Time columns).
MAIN BLOCK: COLUMN 4 and 5
(Offset-X and Offset-Y): First of all, you can ignore these columns! Now,
this is what they are: We have the capability to offset-point from a defined tracking curve.
These columns give the offsets in degrees (NB., not in arcsec!), for the corresponding tracking
curve in column 3. In the case that we use "tracking curve 0," this offset is (0,0) if we want
fixed pointing at Sun center (the usual case for synoptics), and this offset is non-zero if we
want fixed pointing anywhere else (recall, tracking curve "0" is for fixed pointing). For a
tracking curve other than zero, we generally never use an offset from the tracking curve; that
is, the values in these columns should always both be zero if we are using any nono-zero
tracking curve (tracking curve 1, tracking curve 2,..., tracking curve 4). One more
complication: in these columns, the X and Y are opposite those of columns 6 and 7. This is
because these column values are based on the definition of the spacecraft axes; Z points
toward the Sun and Y points up. So, rotation around spacecraft Y leads to an offset on the Sun
in heliocentric X; this is why the offsets are switched in these columns compared to those in
columns 6 and 7.
MAIN BLOCK: COLUMN 8
This column starts after the colon. It gives information of what happens at the time that defines the row in question, such as a description of the new pointing target. You will see that there are (typically) four synoptic observations each day, and these are done at disk center. The last entry is the "backup plan," which is Sun-center pointing (recall, that normally this backup period will be overwritten by the following day's plan, but in the case where a problem prevents us from doing the upload the following day, the spacecraft will go to Sun-center pointing until the end of the plan period).
BOTTOM TWO BLOCKS:
These define the tracking curves. The top and bottom blocks give respectively the definitions that are in effect prior to and after the code for the new plan starts to run; this time is give in the second row after the comment card of the bottom block (this is the time of "OP start +10 min" that you can find as one of the entries in Column 8 of block two). Recall that "Track 0" is fixed pointing, and therefore it does not appear here. Each line gives the heliocentric location in degrees of the specified track at the given date and time.
