The following timeline is a list of different events which will occur beginning with the official start of the Europa 4 (the number actually refers to the Galileo orbit number) encounter and proceding until the last data from the encounter are played back. Because of a solar occultation which occurred during the fifth orbit of Galileo, the activities during this time are also included in the Europa 4 timeline. The times are given in Universal Time (UTC) of the event at the spacecraft.
Date/Time Instrument Event
________ __________ _____
15 Dec 00:00 Start of Europa 4 encounter
10:19 UVS End last Io torus observation
16 Dec 02:30 Orbital Trim Maneuver (OTM) 16
10:00 UVS Jupiter auroral map
17 Dec 14:48 PPR First hot spot observation
19:09 NIMS Io eclipse ingress observation
19:46 SSI Io eclipse thermal observation
21:27 NIMS Io eclipse egress observation
18 Dec 07:13 SSI Amalthea imaging
08:10 SSI Thebe imaging
19:55 PPR Europa global observation
21:37 Io closest approach (321,000 km)
19 Dec 01:19 NIMS Europa global mosaic
03:22 Jupiter closest approach (655,000 km)
03:30 SSI Adrastea imaging
03:40 SSI Europa maculae region
06:20 F&P Europa wake crossing recording
06:27 NIMS Europa Double Line area
06:51 Start solar occultation by Europa
Start Earth occultation by Europa
06:53 Europa closest approach (2,270 km)
07:08 Start solar occultation by Europa
07:09 Start Earth occultation by Europa
20:12 Ganymede closest approach (792,000 km)
20 Dec 04:00 Science turn (high-phase Jupiter)
06:34 SSI First high-phase Jupiter observation
13:32 Callisto closest approach (1,490,000 km)
16:50 NIMS Last high-phase Jupiter observation
16:53 UVS Last hot spot observation
17:11 NIMS Jupiter rings observation
18:23 Turn to return to Earth point
21 Dec 05:57 UVS Himalia observation
16:17 RS Atmospheric profile during occultation
17:43 Start Earth occultation by Jupiter
19:00 F&P End Europa 4 real-time survey
22 Dec 00:37 End Earth occultation by Jupiter
02:52 Start solar occultation by Jupiter
10:52 End solar occultation by Jupiter
13:00 Start playback
23 Dec 09:45 Orbital Trim Maneuver (OTM) 17
23 Dec 20:38 Turn for attitude maintenance
1997
04 Jan 14:30 Orbital Trim Maneuver (OTM) 18
08 Jan 14:53 Turn for attitude maintenance
10 Jan 22:14 Start solar conjunction (contains phasing orbit)
19 Jan 09:36 Ganymede closest approach (1,150,000 km)
20 Jan 00:28 Jupiter closest approach (646,000 km)
01:12 Europa closest approach (28,900 km)
21 Jan 20:18 Callisto closest approach (600,000 km)
22 Jan 01:25 Io closest approach (1,470,000 km)
23 Jan 08:03 Start solar occultation by Jupiter
09:54 Start Earth occultation by Jupiter
16:51 End solar occultation by Jupiter
18:32 End Earth occultation by Jupiter
28 Jan 15:09 End solar conjunction
06 Feb 13:00 Orbital Trim Maneuver (OTM) 19
10 Feb 01:00 First Europa OPNAV (for Europa 6)
18:38 Turn for attitude maintenance
16 Feb 06:49 Last Europa OPNAV (for Europa 6)
17 Feb 00:00 End of data playback (Europa 4)
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