INTEGRAL Science Data Centre
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                   * * * ISDC News 13-MAY-2011 * * *
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Public INTEGRAL Galactic Scan Key Program Observations
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For the first 5 years of INTEGRALs operational life, the scientific Core
Programme included a key component that was the regular scanning of the
Galactic Plane. Since AO-5, these Galactic Plane Scans (GPS) have been
discontinued, and this has resulted in a significant drop in the
discovery rate of new systems in and around the plane of our Galaxy.

The new GPS (PI: Angela Bazzano), approved as a Key Programme throughout
AO-8 and possibly AO-9, will allow the regular monitoring of known
systems, and dramatically enhance the chances of discovering new ones.
Such a programme will be of high value to a very large fraction of the
high energy astronomical community, stimulating science immediately, and
furthermore contributing greatly to the INTEGRAL legacy.

All data from the GPS Key Programme observations are made publicly
available immediately.

The forthcoming GPS observations in AO-8 are scheduled as follows:

	Start (UTC)    End (UTC)       Rev
	------------   ------------    ----
	14 May 05:21   15 May 07:51    1048
	16 May 08:28   16 May 21:13    1048
	17 May 05:11   17 May 18:56    1049
	18 May 19:51   19 May 20:20    1049

For more schedule details and future GPS observations, please consult the
INTEGRAL scheduling information.

Downloading the Public Near-Real Time Data
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The public Near-Real Time (NRT) data can be downloaded from ISDC for
these revolutions with the following command (e.g. for rev. 1048):
rsync -lrtv isdcarc.unige.ch::arc/FTP/arc_distr/NRT/public/scw/1048/ your_destination/scw/1048

The directory "your_destination/scw" must be created in advance.

The auxiliary data can be downloaded by the command:
rsync -lrtv isdcarc.unige.ch::arc/FTP/arc_distr/NRT/public/aux/  your_destination/aux

Please be aware that the NRT data can be affected by some defects:
	- inaccurate pointing information,
	- approximate auxiliary information,
	- missing auxiliary information (time correlation files).

The final consolidated data will be available in the INTEGRAL Archive
typically 6 weeks after the end of the observation. They can be download
similarly by just replacing "NRT" by "CONS" in the commands above.
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