Guideline for Hinode scientific operations

• Coordination among the proposal observations (HOP), core program observations, and instrument-required engineering activities, is crucial in obtaining valuable scientific data from daily observations.
• An ideal goal in scheduling is that the resource allocated for the proposal (HOP) observations is well balanced with that for core team program observations i.e. 50% core: 50% non-core. However, depending on the nature of observations, the solar activity condition and available telemetry, this ground rule is always interpreted with flexibility. For example in a typical case, two days could be fully assigned to a core program and the next two days to a HOP observation.
• The final decision for scheduling of observations will to be made in the daily operation planning meetings (1:30 UT, Mon - Sat) through discussions among the Chief Planner (CP), Chief Observers (CO), and core operation team personnel and for IHOPs, with the IRIS team. Programme planning decisions made in these meetings are final.
  • The daily data allocation can vary in unexpected ways, due to unforeseen circumstances e.g. uncertainty in compression efficiency. Also, it is sometimes necessary for one or more instruments to carry out high-priority test or engineering studies at short notice. Because the telemetry resources are limited, this means that the scheduled HOPs may have to be canceled or postponed without warning on certain days. The Hinode team will make every effort to avoid cancellations.
  • When suitable solar conditions arise for a TOO study, the Hinode team may allocate more resources to such observations, rather than carrying out the scheduled HOP(s).
• It may not be possible to perform more than one or two HOPs in the same day, depending on the total data collected, internal Hinode team plans, etc. In such cases, the Hinode team may give higher priority to one HOP over others. Such determinations will be made in the monthly (once per month), weekly (on Fri), and/or daily meetings.
• As much as possible, the Hinode team will try to find scheduling solutions that result in all the Hinode instruments performing their observations simultaneously, in order to maximize scientific output. This coordination will be arranged in the weekly and daily meetings with best efforts of CP and COs.
• The scheduling procedure and HOP-planning procedure may be modified according to further experience. This document will be updated to reflect such modifications
• Coordination with IRIS, through IHOPs, will be performed throughout the year, but will be very high priority during the months of February, March, April as well as August, September and October since neither IRIS or Hinode are in eclipse season during these months.