Rewriting the textbooks

Rewriting the textbooksMOST science

is doing that

Photometric precision has been maintained orimproved upon, due to:

As good as – or better than – ever

excellent pointing (better than ± 1 arcsec) optimised on-board image stacking continuing refinements to the Fabry and Direct Imaging data reduction experience

Photometric performance

January – August 2010

January – August 2010

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May 10

Apr 10

Mar 10

Feb 10

Jan 10

Dec 09

day of month

Fourth NASA GO Target Campaign (T Tauri (2))

BD-082833 BD-082833 BD-082833

HD96700 HD96700 HD96700

HD115617HD115617HD115617HD115617 HD125595

HD125595 HD125595 HD125595

RigelT Tauri (2)**/WASP-12**(every 2.2 days for 10 hours)HD80606/Z CMarho Pup/HD57682rho Pup/RegulusRegulusAD LeoW CrvW Crv/WASP-14WASP-14HR 5999/40 Ser(needed as an anchor target)eps Ophi**

WASP-12 and NASA GO T Tauri field came within

10° of illuminated Earth and lost pointing lock Problems with acquisition of Z CMa as a switch target ‘anchor’ for HD 80606 False sun sensor readings part of the cause

For last 6 days of ρ Pup (& HD 57682) campaign

both stars eclipsed for part of each MOST orbit Pointing on Regulus interrupted by SEU

(Single Event Upset) corruption of ACS (not a crash)

Slightly reduced time on science targets

Operations

“refquality” used to diagnose guide star problem with AD Leo, W Crv, (40 Ser), HR 5999, ε Oph A new statistic now gathered for the number of lit pixels per guide star

Smaller values of the ADU counts on the lit pixels could lead to a poorer guide star centroid calculation

Extra lit pixels would cause inaccurate guide star centroid value

ACS now evaluates “centroid radius” as one possible cause of anomalous guide star jitter

Modifications to ACS software

Operations

6¾, going on 7 “Advanced old age.

in 2003 MOST years”

over 65 in microsat years

6¾, going on 7 “Over the hill?”.

in CoRoT and Kepler years”

8 track iPodvs.

Satellites ‘R’ Us

21 APR 2010

?

Spacebased photometryMOST has been joined by CoRoT and Kepler

and will be joined soon by BRITE Constellation on this scientific frontier

CoRoTsmallsat BRITE

nanosat

MOSTmicrosat

6 kg54 kg 630 kg

http://www.univie.ac.at/brite-constellation/main5.html

not to scale

http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT

Convection, Rotation and.

planetary Transits.

CoRoT

CoRoT CVZ

Continuousobservations

MOST CVZ

kepler.nasa.gov

Kepler

Kepler CVZ

MOST CVZ

Kepler 3½ years

+ ?

5 months CoRoT

5 months CoRoT

2 months

Publications

6 refereed scientific papers by MOST Team and collaborators published or in press since last Ops Review

61 refereed papers in total

6 refereed scientific papers by MOST Team and collaborators published or in press since last Ops Review

61 refereed papers in total

4 papers currently being refereed at least 3 manuscripts should be ready

for submission within the next month

Publications

Flares, spots and rotationSpectroscopic binary II Pegasi

Flares, spots and rotationEleven flares observed

Flares, spots and rotationMean flare profile

Flares, spots and rotationMean flare profile Differential rotation

Flares, spots and rotationMean flare profile Differential rotation

Flares, spots and rotationResults of analysis of the almost-continuous, one-month-long MOST photometry of the active binary system II Pegasi

Eleven flares were observed (one lasting about 24 hr and six moderately long ones, lasting typically 5 to 10 hr) The primary eclipse of the visible star by its companion (probably an M dwarf) was not detected, which sets an upper limit on the orbital inclination of the system i < 76°

From our analysis of the dark-spot modulated light curve, and the absence of internal variability of spots during the MOST observations, we obtain an estimate of the differential rotation parameter k = 0.0245 (+ 0.0155 −0.0020)

6 refereed scientific papers by MOST Team and collaborators published or in press since last Ops Review

61 refereed papers in total

4 papers currently being refereed at least 3 manuscripts should be ready

for submission within the next month

2010 CASCA meeting 5 talks and 1 poster on MOST science

Publications

MOST data use by others

MOST Public Data Archive2009 user statistics: 23,471 files downloaded (11.9 GB of data in total ) 182 distinct IPs

MOST data use by others

MOST Public Data Archive2009 user statistics: 23,471 files downloaded (11.9 GB of data in total ) 182 distinct IPs

Canada 33 USA 23

Brazil 8 India 4

Poland 4 UK 4

Austria 3 Germany 3

Hungary 3 Russia 3 France 2

Italy 2 Japan 2

Mexico 2 Taiwan 2

Australia 1

Belgium 1 Bosnia 1

Bulgaria 1 China 1

Croatia 1 Czech Republic 1

Indonesia 1 Israel 1

Philippines 1 Romania 1 Slovenia 1

South Africa 1 Spain 1

Sweden 1

TOTAL 113

MOST data archiving

We have allocated 56 days of time to 4 of the 5 top-ranked proposals

NASA GO Cycle 2

NASA GO Cycle 2

NASA GO Cycle 2

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Status of MOST

James Wells

How Are We Doing?

• On June 30th, MOST will enter its 8th year of operations!

You Are Here (11.9 AUs from

the Sun)

Several Target Campaigns, Including the Conclusion of the First Round of NASA GO Targets

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• Next round of NASA GO observations starts this Fall

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May 10

Apr 10

Mar 10

Feb 10

Jan 10

Dec 09

day of month

Fourth NASA GO Target Campaign (T Tauri (2))RigelT Tauri (2)**/WASP-12**(every 2.2 days for 10 hours)HD80606/Z CMarho Pup/HD57682rho Pup/RegulusRegulusAD LeoW CrvW Crv/WASP-14WASP-14HR 5999/40 Ser(needed as an anchor target)eps Ophi**

43

Additional Targets From HARPS

• Observed four exo-planet target stars over 14 ten-hour periods, centered on expected transit times

• On-going campaign - still more to be observed

MOST Ground Stations

• Repairs were done on IFA Ground Station, and checkouts done at UTIAS and UBC

• Currently, all 3 stations are running well, though now and then get degraded passes at UBC

IFA

UTIAS

UBC44

Much Calmer 6-Months, In Terms of Radiation Induced Crashes

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• 4 software crashes likely due to radiation between 12/1/2009 and 6/1/2010 (6 months)

• 13 crashes during the previous 6-month period

SAA

Long Term Power Situation for MOST

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• Power generation drops below consumption at the beginning of 2015 (outside eclipse times)

Monitoring Eclipse Season in 2011 / 2012

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• Can trade-off between two variables to keep the battery charged:– Sun angle to main panel (ie. target selection)– Total transmission time

• Will depend on duration of the eclipse for the given day• Need a new monitoring system:

– Calculate power generation from Snapshot panel voltages and currents

– Alarm if it below what is required for the eclipse duration of the day

– Either need to reduce transmission time or switch to another target (can plan ahead to try to avoid unnecessary target switches)

Looking Ahead to Power Situation by 2013

• Will need to change power setup on MOST

• “Engineering” anchor targets for part of an orbit– Main panel pointed

more directly at sun• Peak Power Trackers

– Have yet to be turned on• Change to CCD clocking?

– Might save some power

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