SPIRAL Service Proposal Application Form

This form is for observers who wish to apply for service time at the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) using the SPIRAL IFU cassegrain feed to the AAOmega spectrograph. To apply for time, complete sections A to F of the form below. When completed, submit the form by clicking on the SUBMIT button. A copy of the information you have provided will appear on the screen and can be saved using the File-save facility on your web browser.

Please read the special AAOmega/SPIRAL Service Information, and both the AAOmega and SPIRAL Instrument Pages before submitting your application.

A: General Information

          
     Principal Investigator: 
                Institution: 
  email address (name@site): 
             Postal address: 


Co-Investigators (Name + Institution):

NOTE: All communication regarding this proposal will be conducted via the named PI.

Title of Proposal:

Please give phone numbers where you can be contacted during the day and during observations.

    Contact phone number(s):

B: Instrument Setup

All of the advertised gratings are available.



      Beam splitter:  

      CCD Readout speed:  

      Sky Subtraction:

Please consult the Instrument Scientist, Sarah Brough (sb@aao.gov.au) for advice on what sky subtraction strategy is best for your programme, if in doubt.

  Red Arm:

      You may find the AAOmega Grating Calculator helpful for determining optimum grating and camera angles for SPIRAL.
      Note that the spectral resolution for SPIRAL is slightly higher due to its smaller fibres.
      While wavelength changes are possible during a night, grating changes are not.


      Grating of Choice (select one only):  



      Central wavelength (Å): 

 
      Blaze Wavelength (if different to above, in Å): 

      Names and wavelengths of
      essential spectral features:

Use the following box to indicate any number of acceptable substitute gratings (if possible) that may facilitate earlier scheduling of your programme. (Depending on your browser, [Shift] + [left Mouse button] or [Control] + [left Mouse button] may allow you to select multiple entries.)


      Alternative gratings (select any number):

  Blue Arm:

      You may find the AAOmega Grating Calculator helpful for determining optimum grating and camera angles for SPIRAL.
      Do not select the same grating that you have chosen for the red arm.


      Grating of Choice (select one only):  


      Central wavelength (Å): 

 
      Blaze Wavelength (if different to above, in Å): 

      Names and wavelengths of
      essential spectral features:

Use the following box to indicate acceptable substitute gratings (if possible) that may facilitate earlier completion of your programme. (Depending on your browser, [Shift] + [left Mouse button] or [Control] + [left Mouse button] may allow you to select multiple entries.)


      Alternative gratings (select any number):

C: Observations

Source List

Complete the following table. For each field that you wish to observe give a field identifier, the coordinates of the field centre, the magnitude range for the target(s), the average S/N required, the number of exposures, and the time per exposure (in seconds).

The total time requested, including calibrations, must not exceed 6 hours.

Do NOT delete the column headings.

Field RA(J2000) DEC(J2000) MagRange S/N Nexp Texp

Total Time Request (hours): Total time (including calibration observations),
calculated to the nearest 0.1 of an hour. hours

Calibration Observations

Standard calibration observations will be taken to correct for flat-fielding, sky subtraction and wavelength calibration. Basic calibration observations require up to 10 minutes per field per pointing. Other calibrations, such as for photometric or radial-velocity standards, require considerably more observing time.

Specify any other calibrations you require here:

Scheduling Information

Service proposals remain valid for up to 18 months after the date of submission.

  Latest useful date for observations (yy/mm/dd):    
                    Worst usable seeing (arcsec):  
                                   Phase of moon:  
                Photometric conditions required?:

Data Reduction and Transfer

The raw data from the service observers will be sent to the principal applicant via anonymous ftp where possible.

D: Finding Charts

The small SPIRAL field-of-view makes finding charts (5 arcmin on a side) indispensible in most cases. This is particularly so for targets that are large and extended, and/or very faint, and/or in extremely crowded fields.

Please email your finding charts as ordinary postscript files (gzipped) to service@aao.gov.au. Please ensure that:

surname

field name

pointing number

e.g.

Smith_ngc253_1.ps.gz

(ii) The finding chart includes the central coordinates and scale written onto the image.

less than 1 Mb

(iv) you give the instrument name, your first initial and your surname in the email subject line, e.g.

Subject: SPIRAL service, J SMITH, finding chart 1

We will accept a maximum of 10 finding charts (unless prior arrangements have been made by emailing service@aao.gov.au ).

Number of finding charts accompanying this proposal (max. 10):

If your targets are large and extended and/or very faint, blind acquisition off a nearby bright star will be necessary.
Please use the box below to comment on the nature of the targets and strategies for blind acquisition (if required).

E: Additional Information

Enter any additional information that will assist us with your proposal.

F: Scientific Justification and Figures

Is this application closely related to any AATAC applications for AAT time which you or your collaborators have submitted this Semester or intend to submit next Semester?

Enter a scientific justification here (no more than 50 lines, or 3400 characters, including spaces).
This should include a statement of what the data will be used for (i.e. completion of previous program, try out new program or technique etc).
Note: If you answered "yes" to the question above, please include specific reasons why some of the project should be done in service mode. Projects for which observing time is pending will not normally be considered for service time to acquire the same or similar data.

Justification:

Figures:

If you wish to send figures to clarify points in the scientific justification, please email ordinary postscript files (gzipped) to service@aao.gov.au. Please ensure that:

(i) your figure file names combine your surname with the suffix _figX, where X is the figure number, e.g.
Smith_fig1.ps.gz

less than 1 Mb

(iii) you give the instrument name, your first initial and your surname in the email subject line, e.g.

Subject: SPIRAL service, J SMITH, justification figure 1

We will accept a maximum of three figures.

Number of figures which will be sent (max. 3):

Page created on 01-Aug-2006.
Last updated on 24-August-2011 by Chris Springob (service@aao.gov.au)