For Scientists: The Long-Term Plan


This is the current Long-Term Plan (LTP) for IXPE. The Science Advisory Team requested that transient targets be added when and if they become bright. At such time, the LTP will be adjusted, attempting to minimize the impact on the overall plan; however, nothing is guaranteed.

IXPE is telemetry limited for bright sources and this requires that observations be handled slightly differently from the way most X-ray missions operate. If IXPE is observing a bright source that could potentially fill on-board storage, we shall divide the observation into multiple segments.

COLUMNS:
P: can be A, C, D or T. A and C targets were assigned by peer review. T is a ToO and D is DDT time. If an A target is bumped due to a ToO, it will be replaced. If a C target is bumped, it will likely be dropped from the plan.

S: This is a segment number. If segment is zero, then the observation has not been segmented.

Pnum: This is the GO proposal number. If the observation is a DDT or a calibration, then this number will be zero.

Name: This is a common name for the target.

RA: Target RA in decimal degrees.

Dec: Target Dec in decimal degrees.

Start: The Year-Month-Day The date the observation is planned to begin. The digits after the T is the start hour, in UT, truncated to a 6 hr interval.

buffer: This is an estimate as to how much data will stll be on the spacecraft when the observation ends in MB. The on-board storage can hold just over 4500 MB and when planning we keep the usage below 4000 MB.

P S Pnum Name RA Dec Start buffer
A 02157 4U 1700-377 255.987 -37.8442025-02-10T06 0.0
C 12013 CRAB PULSAR 83.633 22.0142025-02-13T06 2629.6
L 32158 PERSEUS CLUS 49.947 41.5132025-02-15T00 387.7
C 22013 CRAB PULSAR 83.633 22.0142025-02-28T06 3017.3
L 42158 PERSEUS CLUS 49.947 41.5132025-03-01T18 2120.6
D 00000 IGR J17091-3 257.282 -36.4072025-03-07T00 1260.5
L 52158 PERSEUS CLUS 49.947 41.5132025-03-10T12 0.0
C 02219 1E 1547.0-54 237.725 -54.3072025-03-26T00 0.0
A 02103 KES 75 281.604 -2.9752025-04-08T06 0.0
A 02022 SS 433 WEST 287.672 5.0322025-04-19T00 0.0
A 02184 GRS 1915+105 288.798 10.9462025-05-10T18 0.0
A 02003 MCG-5-23-16 146.917 -30.9492025-05-14T00 0.0
C 02152 NGC 3227 155.877 19.8652025-05-24T18 0.0
A 02014 THE LIGHTHOU 165.384 -61.0052025-06-11T00 0.0
C 02093 UW CRB 241.441 25.8632025-06-28T18 0.0
A 12037 NGC 5506 213.312 -3.2072025-07-09T12 0.0
A 02067 PG 1553+113 238.929 11.1902025-07-21T18 0.0
A 12111 CIR X-1 230.170 -57.1672025-07-24T06 0.0
A 22037 NGC 5506 213.312 -3.2072025-07-27T18 0.0
A 02111 CIR X-1 230.170 -57.1672025-08-02T00 1232.3
A 32037 NGC 5506 213.312 -3.2072025-08-05T00 0.0
A 22111 CIR X-1 230.170 -57.1672025-08-09T18 0.0
NOTES:
Plan covers time up to 2025 mid-August.
ToOs will cause planned times to shift around.
+ NASA Privacy, Security, Notices | Last Updated: February 27, 2025 | Author/Curator: Mitzi Adams, mitzi.adams @ nasa.gov