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:S: This is a segment number. If it is zero, then the observation has not been segmented.
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, truncated to the nearest 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 5000 MB and when planning we keep the usage below 4000 MB.
| S | Name | RA | Dec | Start | buffer |
| 0 | Sco X-1 | 244.979 | -15.640 | 2023-08-28T12 | 3076.9 |
| 2 | RX J1713.7-3 | 257.967 | -39.579 | 2023-08-29T00 | 1759.8 |
| 1 | Sgr A cloud | 266.570 | -28.890 | 2023-09-03T00 | 435.4 |
| 0 | Swift J1727. | 261.931 | -16.205 | 2023-09-07T18 | 1366.1 |
| 2 | Sgr A cloud | 266.570 | -28.890 | 2023-09-08T06 | 0.0 |
| 0 | Swift J1727. | 261.931 | -16.205 | 2023-09-16T18 | 1861.2 |
| 3 | RX J1713.7-3 | 257.967 | -39.579 | 2023-09-17T12 | 0.0 |
| 0 | Swift J1727. | 261.931 | -16.205 | 2023-09-28T00 | 1861.2 |
| 3 | Sgr A cloud | 266.570 | -28.890 | 2023-09-29T18 | 364.1 |
| 0 | Swift J1727. | 261.931 | -16.205 | 2023-10-04T06 | 1386.0 |
| 1 | G21.5 | 278.390 | -10.569 | 2023-10-05T06 | 136.2 |
| 0 | Crab | 83.633 | 22.014 | 2023-10-09T18 | 3981.9 |
| 2 | G21.5 | 278.390 | -10.569 | 2023-10-11T12 | 2419.6 |
| 0 | GX 13+1 | 273.631 | -17.157 | 2023-10-17T06 | 3147.4 |
| 3 | G21.5 | 278.390 | -10.569 | 2023-10-19T12 | 897.6 |
| 0 | PKS2155-304 | 329.717 | -30.226 | 2023-10-27T18 | 0.0 |
| 0 | BL Lac | 330.680 | 42.278 | 2023-11-06T18 | 0.0 |
| 0 | Cyg X-3 | 308.107 | 40.958 | 2023-11-17T18 | 1198.5 |
| 1 | Vela Jr. | 132.240 | -45.650 | 2023-11-24T18 | 0.0 |
| 1 | Mrk 421 | 166.114 | 38.209 | 2023-12-06T18 | 0.0 |
| 0 | SMC X-1 | 19.271 | -73.443 | 2023-12-10T06 | 0.0 |
| 2 | Mrk 421 | 166.114 | 38.209 | 2023-12-11T12 | 0.0 |
| 0 | SMC X-1 | 19.271 | -73.443 | 2023-12-14T18 | 0.0 |
| 3 | Mrk 421 | 166.114 | 38.209 | 2023-12-16T00 | 0.0 |
| 0 | SMC X-1 | 19.271 | -73.443 | 2023-12-19T00 | 0.0 |
| 4 | Mrk 421 | 166.114 | 38.209 | 2023-12-20T12 | 0.0 |
| 2 | Vela Jr. | 132.240 | -45.650 | 2023-12-21T18 | 0.0 |
| 0 | NGC 1068 | 40.670 | -0.013 | 2024-01-03T18 | 0.0 |
| 0 | RCW 86 | 220.250 | -62.697 | 2024-01-29T18 | 0.0 |
| 0 | Start GO | 0.000 | 0.000 | 2024-02-03T12 | 0.0 |
Plan covers time up to the start of the GO program in Feb of 2024.
ToOs will cause planned times to shift around.