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Applying for AAT Telescope Time through ATAC

The main proposal deadline for AAT time in Semester 11A (February 2011 - July 2011) is:

  Wednesday, 15 September 2010, at 23:59
(Australian Eastern Standard Time, i.e. UTC + 10 hrs).

Proposals to ATAC can be submitted from 1 September 2010 through until the deadline using the new web form, and are welcomed from all astronomers worldwide.

(A separate OPTICON proposal call closed on September 1. European-led and dominated proposals can still apply for non-OPTICON AAT time through ATAC by the deadline above.)


New Large Program Call (Semester 2011A)


The AAOmega spectrograph and 2dF top-end combination currently has no Large Programs planned for Semester 11A, but is likely to be unavailable in semester 12B for a prolonged time when the HERMES high-resolution multi-object spectrograph is commissioned. Given these circumstances, the AAO is issuing this special Request for Proposals (RfP) for Large Programs using part or all of the period from semester 11A to 12B (i.e. from February 2011 to February 2013, inclusive). For full details, please see the Request for Proposals.

Anyone considering submitting a Large Observing Program proposal should contact the AAO Director in advance to discuss their plans.


Important notes for 11A applicants



How to Apply for AAT Time - the Basic Steps


  1. All ATAC applicants should check the latest Instrument Availability and other recent policy announcements. If you require further clarification on any issue, then please contact the AAT Technical Secretary, Gayandhi de Silva (aatts -@- aao.gov.au).
  2. Special rules apply for proposals seeking time as an override on another program's time, as well as those seeking long term status. Proposals requiring at most 6 hours of observing time should be submitted to the AAO's Service Observing program.
  3. Prepare your main proposal details offline, including a proposal abstract, target list, and scientific justification.
  4. When your proposal details are ready, submit your application to ATAC (by September 15, 2010) through the AAT online proposal form. Note that it is possible to Save a partially-completed form and return to it later. However, we strongly recommend that you keep your own record of the information entered into the form.
    OR
    Ensure you have submitted your European OPTICON-eligible proposal to the OPTICON TAC through their proposal pages (the deadline for this was 1 September 2010).
  5. Fill in and submit an Instrument Request Form. You will automatically be led to this web-based form from the proposal submission form.


Observing semesters and closing dates:


Semester Observing Dates Proposal Deadline AATAC meeting
11A 1 Feb 2011 - 31 Jul 2011 15 Sep 2010 Nov 2010
11B 1 Aug 2011 - 31 Jan 2010 15 March 2011 May 2011

Contacting the ATAC Secretariat:


The Secretary, ATAC
Anglo-Australian Observatory
PO Box 296 
Epping  NSW 1710
Australia

Phone:  +61 (0)2 9372 4812 Fax:  +61 (0)2 9372 4880
Email enquiries:
Helen Woods (hmw -@- aao.gov.au)


Gayandhi de Silva, AAT Technical Secretary, aatts -@- aao.gov.au