SXT Status Report 1 June, 1998 - 14 June, 1998 (Weeks 23-24) H. Hudson, D. McKenzie SUMMARY Activity was moderate, and SXT has operated well. We've been busy with joint observations scheduled for TRACE, SOHO, and ground-based observatories. SOLAR ACTIVITY and SCIENCE The GOES level (see the plots, for example, on our weekly SXT Web pages) remained at mid-B level, trending upwards towards the end of the interval. By 12 June, nine C or greater including one beautiful over-the-limb M event - an example of a spiky post-flare loop system, of the sort seen occasionally with a side-on view. The largest sunspot group was AR 8232, about which more later, with a peak sunspot area of 360 millionths. During week 23, SXT took part in SOHO and TRACE observations of AR 8227, with Karin Muglach of ESA leading the SOHO effort. This was the region TRACE dedicated a two-week session towards, and the resulting data set (not yet described by a science nugget, because too many things are happening to keep up) could best be described as "unprecedented". We immediately started thinking about making this data set the focus of the CDAW this fall. During week 24, a Hida Observatory campaign (Kurokawa), focusing on flux emergence and jets (Shimojo). This campaign has been less successful, partly because the cloud cover at Hida is (honestly) worse than at TRACE or SOHO. Nevertheless we have one excellent set of PFI-dominant data, filled with interesting phenomena, so it may be that the campaign has been a success in spite of the monsoon. SXT INSTRUMENT STATUS AND CALIBRATION ACTIVITIES Data archiving is complete through Week 22 (May 30). Terminator acquisition continues. We scheduled two spacecraft re-pointings to help keep the database dense in space and full in time. The X and Y rms values for sun center location are only a few pixels, and we believe (based on watching how well the Al.1 movie images look) that we are really doing the right thing here. Images from June 12, for example, showed virtually no trace of stray light. SCIENCE The two current "science nuggets" are (5-Jun) a summary of Nakakubo-san's Master's thesis, which contains results from her automated XBP search program; and (12-Jun) a splendid example of the sigmoid/halo CME pattern: 5-Jun-98: X-ray Bright Point Number Variations 12-Jun-98: Sigmoid => Halo CME => Storm?! To access these, go to http://www.solar.isas.ac.jp/sxt_co/index.html As usual, the current week is also on http://www.solar.isas.ac.jp/sxt_co/SXTweekly.html. This shows the weekly SXT operations report as well as a GOES plot indicating the Yohkoh data currently available on line. OPERATIONS ISSUES Week 23: 1 pass was lost due to conflict with AKEBONO, 4 passes were lost due to conflicts with Planet-B. Week 24: 5 passes were lost due to conflicts with Planet-B. Next week we begin to lose still more KSC telemetry passes to PLANET-B (on to Mars!). Launch countdown begins at 15:00 JST on July 3, culminating in launch at 03:30 JST. Yohkoh may get no KSC passes these two days. In the meanwhile, our operations will be hampered by lack of upload flexibility. After launch, KSC will act as a backup antenna station for the critical operations phase, so Yohkoh may have to give up a few passes each week until November. VISITORS AND PERSONNEL No personnel changes. SEMINARS June 4: H. Hudson (SPRC/ISAS): "The HESSI mission" - or - "A photospheric flare wave" S. Watari (CRL): "The distinction between metric and interplanetary Type II's" Both of these talks were inspired by interesting things heard at the AGU/SPD meeting in Boston. TOHBANS Tohbans for Week 23 SSOC : S.Watari KSC : M.Kasahara, T.Tanaka SXT_CO: D. McKenzie, H. Hudson SXT_SW: - Tohbans for Week 24 SSOC : J. I. Khan,?. Ashizawa KSC : T. Tanaka, J. Sato SXT_CO: H. Hudson, D. McKenzie SXT_SW: -