Caption: The FUSE satellite floats in front of an infrared image of the Carina Nebula, a region of intense star formation, taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Many hot stars within this nebula, including the enigmatic Eta Carina itself, have been the subject of intense study with FUSE observations. Joint observations at several wavelengths using facilities from ground-based telescopes to NASA space telescopes are needed to fully understand complex processes such as star formation. (Graphic courtesy NASA and Lauren Fowler, the JHU FUSE project.)

FUSE has continued operating very well in the one-reaction-wheel control mode since my last report. By analyzing telemetry and satellite performance, we continue to improve our software tools for planning observations with the satellite and the results are showing the impact: the quality and quantity of observations we are scheduling with FUSE exceeds anything we had a right to expect when we lost the third of four reaction wheels. (See this previous report.)

At this writing, the 8th round call for FUSE proposals is closed, and we had another very strong request for new observations. Now we await the deliberations of NASA's review of these proposals to produce the next round of potential FUSE observations for the coming year. More information about FUSE cycle 8 can be found at the FUSE Guest Investigator site [no longer active].

Although this news has been highlighted on the "News" section of our home page, I want to highlight a major FUSE science result that came out in August. A paper summarizing the large emsemble of FUSE observations pertaining to the distribution of deuterium in our Galaxy was published in the August 20, 2006< "Astrophysical Journal." Dr. Jeff Linsky from the University of Colorado was the lead author, with 16 co-authors from 12 institutions. You can read a number of on-line reports about this result by visiting the FUSE On-line! web page.

I offer continued thanks to all of the FUSE Sciences Operations team, including our partners on the Mission Operations Team from Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc., and our colleagues at Orbital Sciences Corporation, as well as the JHU operations staff, for their ongoing efforts as we continue to improve FUSE operations.

Reported by: Bill Blair, FUSE Chief of Observatory Operations

Last Update: October 4, 2006

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