Niels Lund (DTU Space, Denmark)

Observation Constraints for LOFT

Many X-ray investigations require observations at specific times - to follow long time trends or to study
particular source states. The X-ray community has for 15 years been used to the flexibility of the RXTE
satellite in planning monitoring campaigns and target of opportunity requests. Regrettably LOFT is not likely
to be as flexible as RXTE. Estimates of observations constraints as function of source position and season
will be presented. As far as possible the estimates will be updated to correspond to the LOFT configuration
resulting from the ongoing design studies within ESA.