MONS on the Danish Roemer satellite: Measuring Oscillations in Nearby Stars

Abstract

MONS is the scientific project on the Danish Roemer satellite mission, which is being developed as part of the Danish Small Satellite Programme. The principal goal is to study solar-like oscillations in around 20 bright stars, with a precision that in the best cases will be limited only by the intrinsic stellar `noise'. The baseline orbit, a so-called Molniya orbit, allows access to essentially the entire sky during the planned 2-year mission. The main instrument is a short-focus reflecting telescope with an aperture of 32 cm, making two-colour measurements. A focused Field Monitor will be used to detect and correct for possible faint variable stars of substantial amplitude near the main target. In addition the Field Monitor, and the Star Trackers on the platform, may be used to observe a broad range of variable phenomena. The project has concluded the Systems Definition Phase by a successful review, and launch is scheduled for the middle of 2005.