NICER Recent and Planned Schedule

The schedule is updated from both planning and operator console information, typically at UTC midnight. It contains recently observed targets, planned target timelines, as well as any recent operator-commanded targets such as Targets of Opportunity (TOOs).

For more information about NICER observation planning and timelines, please see the NICER Timelines page.

TOOs. Please review the NICER ToO Policy. Any questions regarding how to make TOO requests should be sent to the NICER Helpdesk via the HEASARC's Feedback Form. Details of previously submitted TOO/DDT requests are available at the TOO Summary page.

OHMAN. Summary of OHMAN Targets observed by NICER: OHMAN (Orbiting High-energy Monitor Alert Network) X-ray follow-up observation program uses JAXA's MAXI all-sky monitor to detect sudden X-ray bursts and to automatically notify NICER for immediate followup. See the OHMAN Summary page for a list of OHMAN triggers.

This page has "recently observed and scheduled" targets. For definitively observed past targets, use the HEASARC Mission Timeline Tool, which is populated within two weeks of when NICER observed a target.

Please Note: The NICER schedule is usually made to include times extending beyond the next planned schedule update. Treat these as a "weather forecast:" subject to change. The uploaded planning timeline can be altered and ToOs can be uploaded to interrupt the current timeline.

Definitions

• ObservationID. A NICER-assigned observation identifier. ObservationIDs for Observed or Scheduled observations are subject to change.
• TargetID. A NICER target catalog identifier number, used internally by the NICER scheduling team.
• Start and Stop Time. UTC start and stop time of a snapshot in ISO 8601 format. Note that start time is the beginning of slew to the target and not the start of good observnig time.
• R.A. and Dec. The celestial coordinates of the target (Right Ascension and Declination) in decimal degrees (J2000).
• Ingested. Entries from the definitive as-flown timeline. NICER has definitively observed the listed target, and at least partial data has been received. Up to three days of Ingested data are shown below for context. Additional time may be required for datasets to be actually pipeline-processed.
• Observed. There is a record of this target being observed or scheduled timeline completed. This is not a guarantee that data has been recovered or processed, just that the on-board observation occurred.
• Scheduled. This target is scheduled, but no record of observation yet. The schedule is subject to change.

Table Last Modified: 2025-02-21T11:45:00 UTC-0500
Link to CSV-formatted table for automation: obs_pred_timeline_detail.csv