GALEX Current Status
| GALEX STATUS | |
| Spacecraft: Nominal | Instrument: On May 29, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's far-ultraviolet instrument reported an overcurrent condition and shut down. The project reviewed data from the incident and confirmed it had the same characteristics as three previous incidents occurring in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The recovery of the instrument will require rapid on/off cycling of the detector's high-voltage while gradually increasing the voltage level. This process was successfully used in the recovery from the three previous incidents. Based on the last recovery performed in 2007, it is estimated the process will take around four weeks to complete. The cycling was started on June 3, and is expected to conclude by about July 1. The NUV detector remains nominal. |
GALEX Observation Schedule Details
** This page is under construction. This is a static demo. **
| Eclipse | Eclipse Start (UT) | Exposure [s] | Downlink [s] | NUV Count Rate [ph/s] | FUV Count Rate [ph/s] |
| 25934 | 2008-03-08 14:24:06 | 1635 | 0 | 83200 | 3550 |
| Survey | Observation Mode | Target ID | RA [deg] | DEC [deg] | |
| GII | imaging | GI3_050007_NGC5236 | 204.19814 | -29.878690 | |
The table above displays information about the science target GALEX is currently observing.
Orbit Information
(Click image for a full resolution version)
The top right panel shows the ground trace of the current GALEX orbit. The particle flux associated with the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is represented by the blue (=low) to red (=high) shading. The red line is the night (eclipse) side of the orbit, where GALEX makes observations, the day side is white. The high voltage supply on the detectors are not ramped until after exiting the SAA. The viewing cones of the two ground stations are also displayed. The position in the sky of the science target GALEX is observing (red *) is shown in the lower right panel. Regions of the sky too close to the Sun (yellow dots), the Earth (white dots) and the moon (green dots) for GALEX to observe are also displayed. The left hand panel displays information about the observation mode (imaging/grism/opaque) and the name and position of the science target (J2000 RA Dec). The timing of potential data downlnks is also given.
