Timeline for What does "forward facing" mean for space telescopes?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2016 at 20:30 | vote | accept | NeutronStar | ||
| Sep 14, 2016 at 19:50 | comment | added | eshaya | You can see the same stars in backward facing if you wait 6 months. The reason for switching to forward facing is to allow simultaneous observations from the Earth. In backwards facing configuration, the K2 field of view sets very early in the evening, but in forward facing the K2 field is up for most of the night. The downside to forward facing is that the Earth is in the K2 field for part of time and scattered light from this bright object may be a bit of a problem. | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 17:27 | comment | added | NeutronStar | I found the animations linked in the caption of that Figure most helpful. So over the course of the campaign, the campaign direction transitions from being in the direction of Earth from the point of view of Kepler to being roughly opposite the sun for both Earth and Kepler. | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 17:03 | comment | added | HDE 226868♦ | @Joshua No, you won't be able to see the same stars. Remember that this is only for a small portion of an orbit (C9 was for a couple months, corresponding to a relatively small change in the orbit), and so the telescope needed to be pointed in a particular direction. In this case, the target superstamp was, in the graphs above, to the bottom (see Figure 6 here). | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 16:59 | comment | added | NeutronStar | Why does it matter though? Can't you see the same stars from both places in the orbit? In fact, I would guess that a "perpendicular facing", roughly pointing opposite from the sun, would provide the best viewing for ground telescopes, because then the relevant field of view would be highest in the sky around midnight. | |
| Sep 14, 2016 at 16:09 | history | answered | HDE 226868♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |