The main proposal deadline for AAT time in Semester 13B (August 2013 - January 2014) is:
Friday, 15 March 2013, at 17:00
(Australian Eastern Daylight Time, i.e. UTC + 11 hrs).
Proposals to ATAC can be submitted from
1 March 2013 through until the deadline using the AAT online proposal form, and are welcomed from all astronomers worldwide.(Australian Eastern Daylight Time, i.e. UTC + 11 hrs).
Important notes for 13B applicants
- Large Programs:
The AAO is inviting proposals for Large Observing Programs (those requiring 50 nights or more, possibly over several semesters) to begin in Semester 13B. Details are available at http://www.aao.gov.au/AAO/astro/Large_Programs_RfP_13B.pdf.
- HERMES availability in semester 13B:
AAO expects to carry out commissioning on the HERMES spectrograph during semester 13A, and it is available in "shared-risk" mode for normal program proposals in semester 13B. Questions about expected instrument performance should be directed to the HERMES Project Scientist, Gayandhi de Silva (gdesilva -@- aao.gov.au).
- Remote observing:
From Semester 13B the AAO will be encouraging remote observing from AAO headquarters as an option for all AAT instruments. Remote observing from the AAO's North Ryde headquarters has been successfully demonstrated for UCLES, IRIS2 and 2dF+AAOmega. We are developing a framework for offsite remote observing at a later stage, in order to allow astronomers across Australia to observe from their home institutions. Until that system is ready, observers who wish to travel to Sydney to carry out remote observations can continue to access the existing Travel and Accommodation support offered to AAT observers. Observers who wish to carry out their observations remotely should contact the Acting Director, Andrew Hopkins, at director -@- aao.gov.au.
-
CTIO/DECam time-swap arrangement:
The AAO and NOAO/CTIO have initiated a time-swap arrangement, to allow our respective communities to maximise the scientific facilities and opportunities to which we have access. The DECam imager on the 4m Blanco telescope is available, having completed commissioning and Science Verification. CTIO are working on recovery of the f/8 secondary mirror, meaning that f/8 instruments (the ISPI IR imager and the Hydra multi-object optical spectrograph) are available in "shared-risk" mode in semester 13B. All scheduled observations in 13B will be carried out in classical mode with observers required to travel to the telescope.
In Semester 13B there will be 5 nights available to the Australian community to apply for CTIO time.
Those who wish to apply for this time should do so using the regular AAT proposal form, selecting CTIO/DECam, CTIO/ISPI or CTIO/Hydra in the "instrument" section. Links to the CTIO webpages for further information about the telescope and instrument capabilities are given below, and will also be available from the proposal form:
http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/dark-energy-camera-decam
http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/ispi
http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/hydra
The standard proposal page limits and recommendations regarding technical justifications should be followed. The proposals will be assessed by ATAC, and graded proposals provided to CTIO for scheduling.
- Change in proposal page limits:
ATAC reminds the community that page limits and formatting requirements for AAT proposals are strictly enforced. The main science case of your proposal should be no more than three pages long, and this semester ATAC is requesting a maximum of two pages for the Science Case and a maximum of one page for Technical Justification. All figures and references must also fit within those three pages. Excessively long or dense proposals will be rejected without review. Please see the section "How to Apply for AAT Time" below for further guidance on the form and content of AAT proposals.
How to Apply for AAT Time - the Basic Steps
- 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,
Sarah Martell (aatts -@- aao.gov.au).
- 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.
Prepare your main proposal offline, including an abstract, target list, science case, and technical justification. The science case and technical justification together should be, in PDF format, no more than three pages total, with two pages for the science case and one page for technical justification. The split into two pages science, plus one page technical, is a change from previous semesters. Those three pages should include all references and figures, use 11pt font (or larger), and have at least 10mm margins. Colour figures are accepted. There is a 2 Mb file-size limit on all three-page science case PDF uploads. Other document formats will not be accepted.
The limit for pre-approved Long-Term programs is five pages and 3 Mb file-size. Please contact the ATAC Secretary, Helen Woods (hmw -@- aao.gov.au) well in advance of submitting this kind of proposal.
The limit for pre-approved Large Observing Programs is ten pages and also 3 Mb file-size. Please contact the AAO Director (director -@- aao.gov.au) well in advance of submitting this kind of proposal.
Care should be taken to ensure that your science case includes the following elements:- Full Technical Details, outlining how you derived your time estimates, observing constraints, and any special requests should be included in the scientific case (no more than one page, preferably under a separate section heading).
- If your proposal seeks time on two instruments, outline carefully the relative requirements of the different instrument set-ups, including the split in observing time between the instruments.
- If the observations are essential to the completion of a student's PhD thesis, then a full explanation must be given in the science case. No special consideration is given to proposals involving PhD students, except when attempting to schedule proposals near the cut-off, when some priority may be given.
A list of the principal targets (field centres for AAOmega+2dF programs) should be prepared as a separate PDF document. The target list should contain target name, RA (h m s), Dec (d m s), target brightness, and priority (A LaTeX template for a table of targets can be found here). There is a 2 Mb file-size and 2-page limit for this target list PDF file. Other document formats will not be accepted.
-
When your proposal details are ready, submit your
application to ATAC (by 5PM March 15, 2013) 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.
Observing semesters and closing dates:
| Semester | Observing Dates | Proposal Deadline | AATAC meeting |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13B | 1 Aug 2013 - 31 Jan 2014 | 15 March 2013 | May 2013 |
| 14A | 1 Feb 2014 - 31 Jul 2014 | 16 Sep 2014 | Nov 2014 |
Contacting the ATAC Secretariat:
| The Secretary, ATAC Australian Astronomical Observatory PO Box 915 North Ryde NSW 1670 Australia |
|
| Phone: +61 (0)2 9372 4812 | Fax: +61 (0)2 9372 4880 |
| Email enquiries: Helen Woods (hmw -@- aao.gov.au) |
Sarah Martell, AAT Technical Secretary, aatts -@- aao.gov.au