INTEGRALAO: Help

Overview

References

     http://integral.esac.esa.int/isocweb/schedule.html?action=targets&ao=1
     http://integral.esac.esa.int/isocweb/schedule.html?action=targets&ao=2
     http://integral.esac.esa.int/isocweb/schedule.html?action=targets&ao=3
     http://integral.esac.esa.int/isocweb/schedule.html?action=targets&ao=4
     http://integral.esac.esa.int/isocweb/schedule.html?action=targets&ao=5
     http://integral.esac.esa.int/isocweb/schedule.html?action=targets&ao=6

Provenance

Description

INTEGRAL is an observatory-type mission with a nominal lifetime of 2 years, but an extension of its operation until December 2008 was approved by ESA in November 2003. Most of the total observing time (65% during year 1, 70% during year 2, and 75% (TBC) for years 3, 4, etc.) will be awarded under the General Program to the scientific community at large. Typical observations last from 100 ksec up to about two weeks. Proposals for observations are selected on their scientific merit by a Time Allocation Committee (TAC). These selected observations are the base of the General Program.

The remaining fraction of the total observing time (i.e. 35% (year 1), 30% (year 2), and 25% (TBC) (years 3, 4, etc.) comprises the Core Program and is reserved for the institutes which have developed and delivered the INTEGRAL instruments and for the INTEGRAL Data Center (guaranteed PI time), for Russia and NASA for their contributions to the INTEGRAL missions, and - to a smaller extent - for Mission Scientists and the ISOC. The Core Program will consist of three elements:

(i) Deep exposures of the central Galactic radian (+/ 30 deg in longitude, +/- 20 deg in latitude, centred on (l, b) = (0, 0). Individual pointings (30 min exposure each) on a regular pointing grid with 2.4 and 1.2 deg spacing, respectively;

(ii) The Survey of the Galactic Plane to map its gamma-ray emission, to detect as yet unknown persistent sources (e.g. recent Galactic supernovae), and to facilitate the study of transient sources. This survey will be made out of weekly scans ("slew, stop, stare") along a saw-tooth path (inclined at 21 deg wrt galactic equator). Each scan consists of a series of individual exposures (1050 sec each) separated by 6.0 deg along the scan path. Individual scans are shifted by 27.5 deg in galactic longitude. The scan pointings cover a band of +/- 6.5 deg in galactic latitude; the actual coverage is larger (i.e. approx. +/- 20 deg), however, due to the wide FOV's of the instruments; and

(iii) Pointed observations including Targets of Opportunity (ToO's).

Parameters

PNo
The INTEGRAL proposal number.

ObsID
The INTEGRAL unique observation identifier. The first two digits of the ObsID specify the Announcement of Opportunity (AO) to which it corresponds: e.g., obsid 03297000002 was submitted for INTEGRAL AO-3. The first seven digits comprise the INTEGRAL proposal number.

Name
The name of the target of the observation.

RA
The Right Ascension of the target in the selected equinox. For targets that are Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and for some of the Targets of Opportunity (TOOs), the position is not known a priori.

Dec
The Declination of the target in the selected equinox. For targets that are Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and for some of the Targets of Opportunity (TOOs), the position is not known a priori.

LII
The Galactic Longitude of the target.

BII
The Galactic Latitude of the target.

Time_Approved
The time granted for the observation of the target, in seconds (s). For a number of the targets, either those for which no dedicated exposure time is required or for which the amount or timing of the exposure is complex, this field is filled with a nominal 1 second value.

Exposure
The amount of observing time scheduled, in seconds (s). For completed observations, this is the actual amount of time for which the target was observed.

Status
The status of the target in the INTEGRAL observing program. Possible values include `Amalgamated', `Approved', `Completed', `Expired', and `Scheduled'.

ObsType
The observation type, where `N' means normal, `F' means fixed time, and `T' means ToO: note that TOO proposals with very large lists of targets have only been granted a single target or a limited number of targets within the list.

Pattern
Observation Pointing Pattern

Grade
The proposal grade or priority (A, B, C, or GRB) for General and Core Program targets. For the General Program, the INTEGRAL Time Allocation Committee (TAC) approved individual observations of a proposal by assigning a grade, A, B, C or GRB to each observation. A special sub-group of targets, which have a priority class of their own because of their serendipitous nature, has been identified with a GRB grade.

The characteristics of a specific grade are as follows:

A: Excellent proposal. Highest scheduling priority. A-grade proposals which can not be scheduled during their particular AO will automatically be carried over to the next AO, i.e. no re-submission to the TAC for the next AO is required. This does not hold, however, for TOO observations (see below), which should be re-proposed, if desired by the PI, for the next AO, if they are not scheduled during the period covered by their AO.

B: Very good proposal. High scheduling priority. B-grade proposals which can not be scheduled during their particular AO must be re-submitted for the next AO when B-grade targets become free for new proposals.

C: Good proposal. Low scheduling priority. C- grade proposals which can not be scheduled during their particular AO must be re-submitted for the next AO when C-grade targets become free for new proposals.

GRB: A special sub-group of targets, which have a priority class of their own because of their serendipitous nature, has been identified with this grade. No scheduling impact as serendipitous data are being used.

Title
The title of the proposal under which the target was accepted.

Category
The INTEGRAL proposal category under which the target was accepted. This includes `Compact Object', `Core Proposal', `Extragalactic Object', `Nucleosynthesis', and `Others'.

PI_Name
The name of the Principal Investigator for the observation. For amalgamated observations, this parameter lists the original ObsIDs.

Institute
The institute of the Principal Investigator for the the proposal under which the target was accepted.

Country
The country of the Principal Investigator for the proposal under which the target was accepted.

Abstract
The abstract for the proposal for which the target was accepted.

Contact Person