High Cadence Photometry of the Tumbling Hitomi X-ray Satellite
Abstract
Hitomi was a Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite launched February 17, 2016. The space observatory was designed to perform imaging and spectroscopy in the hard X-ray band above 10 keV. It was hoped these measurements could provide insight into the evolution of galaxy clusters and the large-scale structure of the universe. On March 26, 2016, contact was lost with Hitomi. That same day, the United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) reported the breakup of the satellite into a total of 6 pieces. When clear weather was available beginning March 31, 2016, the satellite and several of its debris pieces were optically tracked and observed from Daytona Beach, Florida using the OSCOM system---designed for observation of small satellites and debris using commercial-of-the-shelf (COTS) equipment. The brightness of the main piece, peaking between magnitude 2 and 3 in the SDSS r' band, allowed photometric measurements to be made at over 100 Hz for several passes of the satellite and its debris over several nights. These high cadence measurements show a clear and consistent flash pattern with a primary period of 2.66 seconds. We present reduced photometric observations and discuss how high cadence data can be used to understand the cause of failure for future satellite missions or for shape modeling of debris and near-Earth asteroids.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #228
- Pub Date:
- June 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AAS...22812103G