FAST Orbit Seasonal Coverage

Notes on seasonal coverage plots

The animated plots of the FAST orbit coverage (a short example is displayed here) show the orbit track for every twelfth orbit in red, plotted in geographic coordinates, with the direction of the Sun to the top of the plot. The blue line marks the terminator. The green ovals mark the nominal auroral oval for Kp = 3. (You can freeze the animation by clicking your web browser's "Stop" button.)

The FAST spacecraft orbit period is approximately 2.2 hours, i.e., about 11 orbits per day.

The oscillation of the auroral oval is given by the daily rotation of the geomagnetic pole about the geographic pole, but aliassed to lower frequencies by the 12 orbit spacing. The oscillation, although aliassed, does show the variation in the geomagnetic footprint associated with the diurnal variation.

Note that the plots show orbit coverage only. They do not show data availability.

The orbit sequences are separated into hemispheric projections by either northern apogee or southern apogee, and the complementary northern perigee or southern perigee.

For southern hemisphere plots, the orientation of the plots is that expected if the Earth is viewed from below. The Sun is at the top of the plots, but Dawn is on the left and Dusk is on the right, opposite to the northern hemisphere projection.

The orbit coverage plots also include predicted orbit data. The date and orbit ranges in the lists below are labeled PREDICTED when some portion of the orbit sequence includes predicted data. These are only available as Animated GIFs.

[The orbit plots were generated at UCLA using IDL routines provided by the University of California, Berkeley.]

Notes on file formats

The links below refer to either an Animated GIF or a QuickTime Movie. Choose the format most appropriate for playback with your browser and platform combination. In either case the animation will loop continuously, unless stopped by clicking your browser's "Stop" button.

Downloading the files to your local machine (right mouse button on Unix or PC, press and hold mouse button on Mac), rather than launching the animation within your browser, is useful if you want to study the FAST orbit evolution in detail. Again choose whichever format best suits your platform. On a Unix machine, Animated GIFs can be viewed with xanim. On Macs and PCs, QuickTime Movies and Animated GIFs can be viewed with Apple's QuickTime Player.

Note that each of the files is about 1.5 MBytes in size, and will take several minutes to download over a 56k modem connection. An internet connection via cable modem, DSL, or faster is recommended.

Northern Hemisphere Apogee

1996/11/21 - 1997/03/02 (orbits 00996 - 02088) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1997/06/13 - 1997/09/22 (orbits 03204 - 04296) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1998/01/03 - 1998/04/13 (orbits 05412 - 06492) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1998/07/26 - 1998/11/03 (orbits 07620 - 08700) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1999/02/13 - 1999/05/24 (orbits 09816 - 10896) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1999/09/03 - 1999/12/11 (orbits 12012 - 13092) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2000/03/23 - 2000/06/28 (orbits 14208 - 15276) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2000/10/08 - 2001/01/14 (orbits 16392 - 17460) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2001/04/24 - 2001/07/30 (orbits 18564 - 19632) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2001/11/07 - 2002/02/11 (orbits 20736 - 21804) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2002/05/21 - 2002/08/25 (orbits 22896 - 23964) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2002/12/01 - 2003/03/06 (orbits 25056 - 26112) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2003/06/12 - 2003/09/15 (orbits 27204 - 28260) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2003/12/22 - 2004/03/25 (orbits 29352 - 30408) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2004/07/01 - 2004/10/03 (orbits 31500 - 32556) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2005/01/07 - 2005/04/12 (orbits 33636 - 34692) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2005/07/17 - 2005/10/19 (orbits 35772 - 36828) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2006/01/24 - 2006/04/27 (orbits 37920 - 38964) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2006/08/03 - 2006/11/04 (orbits 40056 - 41100) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2007/02/08 - 2007/05/13 (orbits 42180 - 43236) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2007/08/17 - 2007/11/19 (orbits 44316 - 45372) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2008/02/23 - 2008/05/27 (orbits 46452 - 47508) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2008/08/30 - 2008/12/02 (orbits 48588 - 49644) PREDICTED [Animated GIF]
2009/03/08 - 2009/06/09 (orbits 50724 - 51768) PREDICTED [Animated GIF]

Southern Hemisphere Apogee

1996/08/22 - 1996/11/20 (orbits 00012 - 00984) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1997/03/03 - 1997/06/12 (orbits 02100 - 03192) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1997/09/23 - 1998/01/02 (orbits 04308 - 05400) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1998/04/14 - 1998/07/25 (orbits 06504 - 07608) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1998/11/04 - 1999/02/12 (orbits 08712 - 09804) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1999/05/25 - 1999/09/02 (orbits 10908 - 12000) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1999/12/12 - 2000/03/22 (orbits 13104 - 14196) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2000/06/29 - 2000/10/07 (orbits 15288 - 16380) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2001/01/15 - 2001/04/23 (orbits 17472 - 18552) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2001/07/31 - 2001/11/06 (orbits 19644 - 20724) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2002/02/13 - 2002/05/20 (orbits 21816 - 22884) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2002/08/26 - 2002/11/30 (orbits 23976 - 25044) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2003/03/07 - 2003/06/11 (orbits 26124 - 27192) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2003/09/16 - 2003/12/21 (orbits 28272 - 29340) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2004/03/26 - 2004/06/30 (orbits 30420 - 31488) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2004/10/04 - 2005/01/06 (orbits 32568 - 33624) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2005/04/13 - 2005/07/16 (orbits 34704 - 35760) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2005/10/20 - 2006/01/23 (orbits 36840 - 37908) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2006/04/29 - 2006/08/02 (orbits 38976 - 40044) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2006/11/05 - 2007/02/07 (orbits 41112 - 42168) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2007/05/14 - 2007/08/16 (orbits 43248 - 44304) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2007/11/20 - 2008/02/22 (orbits 45384 - 46440) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2008/05/28 - 2008/08/29 (orbits 47520 - 48576) PREDICTED [Animated GIF]
2008/12/03 - 2009/03/07 (orbits 49656 - 50712) PREDICTED [Animated GIF]

Northern Hemisphere Perigee

1996/08/22 - 1996/11/20 (orbits 00012 - 00984) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1997/03/03 - 1997/06/13 (orbits 02100 - 03192) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1997/09/23 - 1998/01/02 (orbits 04308 - 05400) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1998/04/14 - 1998/07/25 (orbits 06504 - 07608) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1998/11/04 - 1999/02/12 (orbits 08712 - 09808) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1999/05/25 - 1999/09/02 (orbits 10908 - 12000) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
1999/12/12 - 2000/03/22 (orbits 13104 - 14196) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2000/06/29 - 2000/10/07 (orbits 15288 - 16380) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2001/01/15 - 2001/04/23 (orbits 17472 - 18552) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2001/07/31 - 2001/11/06 (orbits 19644 - 20724) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2002/02/13 - 2002/05/20 (orbits 21816 - 22884) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2002/08/26 - 2002/11/30 (orbits 23976 - 25044) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2003/03/07 - 2003/06/11 (orbits 26124 - 27192) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2003/09/16 - 2003/12/21 (orbits 28272 - 29340) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2004/03/26 - 2004/06/30 (orbits 30420 - 31488) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2004/10/04 - 2005/01/06 (orbits 32568 - 33624) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2005/04/13 - 2005/07/16 (orbits 34704 - 35760) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2005/10/20 - 2006/01/23 (orbits 36840 - 37908) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2006/04/29 - 2006/08/02 (orbits 38976 - 40044) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2006/11/05 - 2007/02/07 (orbits 41112 - 42168) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2007/05/14 - 2007/08/16 (orbits 43248 - 44304) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2007/11/20 - 2008/02/22 (orbits 45384 - 46440) [Animated GIF, QuickTime Movie]
2008/05/28 - 2008/08/29 (orbits 47520 - 48576) PREDICTED [Animated GIF]
2008/12/03 - 2009/03/07 (orbits 49656 - 50712) PREDICTED [Animated GIF]

Southern Hemisphere Perigee

IGPP/UCLA Space Physics Center home page IGPP/UCLA FAST home page Bob Strangeway's home page

created by R. J. Strangeway.

email: strange@igpp.ucla.edu

Last modified: June 12, 2008.