TIME-DOMAIN ASTRONOMY IS BOTH A NEW AND OLD FIELD WITH BEGINNINGS DATING BACK TO OBSERVATIONS OF MOVING STARS -- PLANETS -- AND MORE RECENTLY FOCUSING ON DETAILED MONITORING OF (PARTS OF) THE SKY FOR VARIABLE AND/OR TRANSIENT PHENOMENA. OBSERVATIONAL FACILITIES FOR SUCH STUDY ARE TYPICALLY TAILORED TO A CERTAIN SCIENCE ASPECT WITH SPACE-BASED MISSIONS SUCH AS KEPLER PROVIDING EXTREME PRECISION WHEREAS GROUND-BASED OBSERVATORIES SUCH AS PANSTARRS ENABLING THE SURVEY OF LARGE SKY AREAS. HERE WE PRESENT A PROPOSAL FOR A SIMILAR PROJECT BUT WITH A TWIST: USING OBSERVATIONS GATHERED WITH SUN-OBSERVING SATELLITES SOHO AND STEREO WE ARE ABLE TO STUDY STARS DOWN TO 12TH MAGNITUDE WITHIN 30 DEGREES OF THE ECLIPTIC PLANE USING CADENCES AS SHORT AS 15 MINUTES AND WITH OBSERVING SPANS OF TWO DECADES. THIS PROVIDES US WITH A UNIQUE DATASET TO STUDY THE EVOLUTION NOT ONLY OF TRANSIENTS NOVAE AND CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES BUT ALSO OF LONG-TERM PHENOMENA SUCH AS PERIODIC ACCRETION IN PRE-MAIN SEQUENCE STARS OR THE SECULAR EVOLUTION OF STARS DUE TO STELLAR EVOLUTION BINARY INTERACTION AND/OR OTHER STILL UNKNOWN CAUSES. COMBINING DATA FROM MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT INSTRUMENTS ANALYZED IN A WELL-DEFINED HOMOGENEOUS MANNER MINIMIZES SYSTEMATIC UNCERTAINTIES AND PROVIDES INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE FOR RARE AND/OR UNEXPECTED FINDINGS. WE PROPOSE TO ANALYZE ARCHIVAL DATA FROM A TOTAL OF EIGHT INSTRUMENTS ON-BOARD THREE SATELLITES ENCOMPASSING SEVERAL MILLION INDIVIDUAL OBSERVATIONS TO NOT ONLY ANSWER OUR OWN SCIENCE QUESTIONS BUT TO ALSO PROVIDE A VALUABLE COMMUNITY RESOURCE ENABLING A WIDE RANGE OF FOLLOW-ON INVESTIGATIONS BY THE ASTRONOMICAL COMMUNITY AT LARGE. AS SUCH OUR PROJECT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN OF THESE PRECIOUS MISSIONS THAT SO FAR HAVE NOT BEEN FULLY EXPLOITED BY THE ASTROPHYSICAL COMMUNITY.
$605,568FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Wisconsin System, Madison WI