If the slew to your source is during good time (not occulted or in SAA), you may see sources in the lightcurve. In case you want to know what those sources might be, we have provided the same information here that we use in the SOF.

First, you need to save an ascii dump of the slew from one of the lightcurve displays. Then determine the time at which RXTE slewed over the source. Look at the table below and find the time which most closely matches, but is BEFORE the calculated time. If the slew was through a crowded area, there may be several candidates. You can probably eliminate any source with a closest approach distance of about one degree, since that is the edge of the field of view of the PCA.

To determine the source's flux relative to the Crab, subtract off the background flux. The Crab has a flux in the PCUs of 2600 c/s/PCU, or 13000 c/s (sum of 5 PCUs).

These predictions are based on a simplified model of spacecraft maneuvers in which the spacecraft is assumed to maneuver at a constant rate with instantaneous acceleration and braking. Sources typically appear about 10 sec. later than predicted. This delay can be much larger near the end of the maneuver. Sources near the edge of the collimator response may or may not appear depending on the exact path of the maneuver.

Key to the table below: (all angles are in degrees, and columns we find useful in the SOF are in red.)

• YEAR, Day of year, HOUR, MINUTE, SECONDS, Mission Elapsed Time: the predicted time to slew over the source.
• Source-Name: Names of the sources RXTE is predicted to slew near; L=___XXX___ means that we are crossing the galactic plane at longitude XXX.
• Scan-RA, Dec: RA and Dec of RXTE pointing at time of closest approach.
• Long: angle that the spacecraft has rotated about the eigenaxis since the start of the slew.
• Rate, Roll: not included in this file, but can be obtained from the short-term schedule.
• Fmin, Fmax: These are based on the catalog values for minimum and maximum flux in mCrab. They have been approximately corrected for not slewing directly across the source.
• DLat: The closest approach to the source in degrees.
• O: Occultation flag. "0" means unocculted, "1" means skimming the horizon. Fully occulted sources are not listed.
• S: SAA flag. "0" means not in SAA. Sources predicted to be slewed over in SAA are not listed.

The source for the program which creates this output, and most of the text of this document was written by RXTE SOC Director Frank Marshall.