Contents:
1) FUSE Cycle 7 "Call for Proposals" Released
2) FUSE Special Session at the Washington, DC, Jan. 2006, AAS Meeting
3) FES-B is Now the Default Guide Camera
4) FUSE One-wheel Operations Status
1) FUSE Cycle 7 "Call for Proposals" Released
The FUSE "Guest Investigator (GI) Program Description and Proposal
Instructions" for Cycle 7 was released on 4 August, 2005. This documentation
supplements the NASA ROSES Appendix C.9 (FUSE Guest Investigator - Cycle 7).
The proposal deadline for the FUSE Cycle 7 GI program is September 16, 2005.
NASA anticipates to allocate ~2 Msec of observing time for Cycle 7.
Due to the ongoing optimization of the new attitude control system, and its
current limitations, the sky availability in Cycle 7 is restricted to absolute
declinations above 50 degrees. In addition, fewer special requirements will be
allowed than in Cycle 7.
The FUSE project expects to be able to expand the sky availability
beyond this range in the future. For lower declinations, the database of
pending targets from earlier proposal cycles already provides a well populated
list for when this capability is achieved. Given that high declination targets
are usually observed in the Continuous Viewing Zone (CVZ), the observing
efficiency for such targets is potentially high and a well populated target
pool is required. Achieving this high declination target pool is an important
objective of Cycle 7.
Cycle 7 is the first time that FUSE proposals will be processed through
the NSPIRES system at NASA Peer Review Services. This introduces important
differences from previous FUSE proposal cycles in the procedures for both US
and non-US PRs. The web-generated "Cover Page/Proposal Summary" must be used
for proposals from US institutions. For non-US institutions, the web-generated
"Notice of Intent to propose" may be used instead. For US proposers we note
that, in the NSPIRES system, the PI can no longer perform the submittal of
the Cover Page. Rather, this has to be done by the Authorizing Official
("Grants Manager") at his or her institution. Because of the additional time
required to register and submit the cover pages, we urge you to start this
process early.
For full details on the FUSE Cycle 7 proposal round, please see the
"Proposal Planning" link at the FUSE GI homepage.
http://fusegi.pha.jhu.edu
2) FUSE Special Session at the Washington, DC, Jan. 2006, AAS Meeting
We are happy to announce that the AAS has accepted our proposal for a
Special Session at the upcoming AAS meeting in Washington, DC (Meeting 207,
January 8-12, 2006). The session is entitled
"Recent Discoveries in the Far Ultraviolet, Results from FUSE"
and will consist of six invited talks reviewing and updating highlights of the
main areas of FUSE science. The invited talks are:
The Sun In Time and related FUSE Science E. Guinan, Villanova U.
Abundances and ionization in the Cool/Warm ISM E. Jenkins, Princeton U.
Hot Stars, Mass Loss and Metalicities A. Fullerton, U. Vic.
O VI and the IGM Baryon Content T. Tripp, U. Mass.
The He II Lyman forest and re-ionization of He+ M. Shull, U. Colorado
The local D/H ratio W. Moos, JHU
There will also be an associated poster session.
We encourage all FUSE users to help us make a strong showing at the meeting by
submitting contributed papers for this poster session. Look for this session
in the drop-down menu when you submit the abstract.
3) FES-B is Now the Default Guide Camera
FUSE carries two redundant Fine Error Sensor (CCD) guide cameras,
provided by the Canadian Space Agency. During initial checkout, FES-A was
designated the default camera and has been used for all science observations
through June 2005. In addition to guiding, nearly 56,000 FES-A acquisition
images have been taken over the six years of FUSE operations.
Since returning from our winter hibernation caused by the reaction
wheel failure in December 2004, we have experienced intermittent problems
with FES-A. After several rounds of troubleshooting, the FUSE project, in
July 2005, decided to make FES-B the default Guide Camera for future operations.
FES-A remains available as a back-up if needed.
The primary operational difference is that FES-B views the Focal Plane
Assembly (FPA) on the LiF2 channel, while FES-A viewed the LiF1 FPA. Since
thermal channel drifts occur relative to the guide channel, the most reliable
(and well centered) data will now occur in the LiF2 channel, rather than in
LiF1.
In order to optimize the optical focus of FES-B for guiding, the LiF2
FPA has been repositioned from the focal plane of the LiF2 primary mirror.
Observations of point sources with the LWRS aperture will be unaffected, and
the point source spectral resolution on this channel is not impacted. However,
the throughput of the narrow apertures will be reduced somewhat on the LiF2
channel compared with previous performance. The effective transmission of the
apertures has yet to be characterized in detail, but will be approximately 70%
for LIF2 MDRS and 15% for LiF2 HIRS. These factors have been incorporated into
the on-line Exposure Time Calculator for use in Cycle 7. The resolution for
observations of diffuse sources in LiF2 is expected to be slightly lower.
Further calibration observations are planned to characterize these parameters
more carefully. Note that the changes in throughput affect only LiF2 and not
the LiF1 or SiC channels.
If users have additional questions, please contact the FUSE project
via fuse_support@pha.jhu.edu.
4) FUSE One-wheel Operations Status
We continue to make progress toward the recovery of science operations
with FUSE, using a hybrid one-reaction-wheel plus magnetic-torquer-bar control
system. It has been a "learning" process, which has resulted in both periods
of realistic operations and periods of "down time" while we assess, learn, and
develop the next level of improvements to both the attitude control software
and the scripts that control the way the satellite operates. We have performed
a number of Cycle 5 and 6 science observations over the last month even while
we are in a test mode, using targets that are near the orbit pole at the time
of the observation. Operations using FES-B as the guide camera have been fully
tested and FES-B is ready for prime time. We recently uploaded revised scripts
that should smooth out some of the bumps we have experienced, and we are in
final testing of a major revision of the flight attitude control software being
prepared by our colleagues at Orbital Sciences Corp. We expect this load to
occur during the last week of August 2005.
The Observer's Electronic Newsletter is published by the FUSE project and is aimed at the FUSE user community.
Editor: B-G Andersson, FUSE Guest Investigator Officer.
The FUSE Project is managed by the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Astrophysical Sciences in Baltimore, MD, for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The FUSE Principal Investigator is Dr. Warren Moos, the FUSE Program Manager at JHU is Mr. Randy Ewing, and the NASA Project Scientist for FUSE is Dr. George Sonneborn.