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Operations CXO Status Report

Friday 5 May 2023 9.00am EDT

During the last week Chandra completed the observing schedule as planned.

A real time procedure was executed on Apr 28 to uplink a flight software patch to lower the pitch threshold at which the Sun Position Monitor will use the Fine Sun Sensor from 135 to 125 deg, owing to increasing roll errors detected at larger solar pitch angles. Real-time procedures were executed on Apr 28, Apr 29, and Apr 30 to dump OBC-A and -B memory as a follow-up to the flight software patch on Apr 28. The dump will be used to update the baseline memory images maintained on the ground. Additional real-time procedures were executed on May 3 to perform a routine self-check of the Electrical Interface Assembly (EIA) Sequencer and to perform a diagnostic dump of the Control Processing Electronics (CPE).

Chandra passed through the 25th (and final) eclipse of the season on Apr 30, with nominal power and thermal performance. Real-time procedures were executed on Apr 30 to disable SCS-29 and to dump and clear the EPS glitch counters as post-eclipse season actions.

A Chandra image release was issued on May 2 presenting a combination of data from Chandra, from NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite, and from ground-based optical telescopes of the galaxy Centaurus A (Cen A), which shows a large jet emerging from its central supermassive black hole. Cen A has been studied extensively with Chandra; IXPE adds the ability to measure X-ray polarization and further illuminate the physics underlying the radiation for this object. For details see: https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2023/cena/

A further Chandra image release was issued on May 4 presenting the deepest Chandra image to date of the galaxy M84 in the Virgo cluster. A focus of the study is the origin of the accretion flow that feeds the central supermassive black hole; this flow is strongly influenced by the radio jets generated by the black hole, which have created cavities in the surrounding hot gas and rendered the flow directionally asymmetric. For details see: https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2023/m84/

The schedule of targets for the next week is shown below and includes observations of AT2023fhn, which are follow-ups to a Target of Opportunity accepted on Apr 21.



------------------------------------------
        Radiation Belts                     May  8
        AT2023fhn              ACIS-S
        NGC5872                ACIS-S
        AGC727151              ACIS-S       May  9
        DELSJ091054.53-0414    ACIS-I
        NGC3665                HRC-S
        NGC5872                ACIS-S
        AT2023fhn              ACIS-S
        SDSSJ090531.07+03353   ACIS-S       May 10
        Radiation Belts                     May 11
        ApepPlume              ACIS-S/HETG
        DELSJ091054.53-0414    ACIS-I
        ApepPlume              ACIS-S/HETG
        NGC3665                HRC-S        May 12
        NGC5872                ACIS-S
        NGC5005                ACIS-S
        SDSSJ1339+1310         ACIS-S
        SDSSJ111850.02+3513    ACIS-S       May 13
        SDSSJ1339+1310         ACIS-S
        Radiation Belts
        SDSSJ090531.07+03353   ACIS-S
        M87                    HRC-I        May 14
        A1795                  ACIS-I
        IGRJ20169+2714         ACIS-I
        SNRG021.5-00.9         HRC-I
        2MASXJ15422399-14110   ACIS-S

------------------------------------------

All spacecraft subsystems continued to support nominal operations.

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