Behind to make roll to observe Elenin July 31 - August 12

 

Jul 31 – Aug 12 Behind: Spacecraft rolls to observe comet Elenin”
The SECCHI team requests to roll the Behind spacecraft by 135 degrees for two hours per day each day between Aug 1 (or late on Sep 31) and Aug 12 to observe comet Elenin as it flies within 0.05 AU of the spacecraft. Observations of the comet at a wide variety of phase angles will provide information about composition. There’s also a possibility that the in situ instruments on Behind will see the ion tail.
The requested two hours per day will include the roll and settle times, with the roll starting on an even hour boundary, and then back to nominal roll and settled on the next even hour boundary. A more detailed plan will be sent to APL (Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University).
The test of the roll maneuver to observe Comet Elenin from Behind is expected to be scheduled sometime in week 29 (July 18-24).
http://spaceobs.org/en/#
http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov

About STEREO A and STEREO B
STEREO Orbital diagram

http://apparitionsourlady.blogspot.com/2011/07/behind-to-make-roll-to-observe-elenin.html