From: Rene Rutten (rgmr@ing.iac.es)
Date: Tue Jul 01 2003 - 03:19:23 PDT
ANNOUNCEMENT
Call for expressions of interest for the future use of
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the 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma
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Introduction
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The 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope located at the world-class observatory
site Roque de los Muchachos on the island of La Palma, Spain, will be
taken out of service as a common-user facility as of August 2003.
Instead, the telescope may be offered for use to paying interested
parties. To date, this telescope has primarily served the astronomical
communities in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Spain, but due
to changing scientific priorities this telescope can be made available
to the wider international scientific community, provided that the full
operating cost is recovered.
This announcement calls for expressions of interest from potentially
intertested parties in the use of the telescope. Guidelines are set out
below.
Expressions of interest should reach the Director ING by September 5th,
2003.
The telescope
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The 1-m Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope (JKT) is equatorially mounted on a
cross-axis mount. The telescope has a conventional f/15 Cassegrain
focus. A wide-field f/8 focus is an alternative option.
The JKT is located at an elevation of about 2400m, close to the highest
point of the steep volcanic island of La Palma at the spanish
Observatorio de Roque de los Muchachos. The telescope and has been in
operation since 1984. A historic and pictoral overview of the JKT is
posted at http://www.ing.iac.es/PR/jkt_info/.
Although in operation for nearly 20 years, the telescope and instrument
control systems have been well maintained and modernized continuously,
experiencing technical down-time losses at no more than the 2-3% level.
System operation takes place from a Unix console, while for data
capture and reduction separate systems are in place. The telescope
building includes office space and basic amenities. A more complete
description of telescope functionality and operation may be found at
http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/telescopes/jkt/BASIC_GUIDE/ and
http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/manuals/html_manuals/
jkt_instr/jkt_jag/index.html
The full system is easily operated by a single person from a
dedicated control room. Full automation of telescope operation for
remote control observation is a possibility but would require
investments in upgrading the infrastructure.
The telescope is routinely equipped with a state-of-the-art scientific
quality CCD imager in the Cassegrain focus, with a field of view of
10 by 10 arcminutes. A large choice of filters is available.
Infrastructure for data storage and automatic archiving is also
available, as well as extensive software tools and computing
infrastructure for advanced automated data processing.
The telescope has remained competitive in its class and has been
scientifically highly productive. To date the JKT has been operated
and maintained by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING), on
behalf of the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council
(PPARC), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO),
and the Spanish Astrophysics Institute of the Canary Islands (IAC).
Apart from the JKT, the ING also operates the 2.5-m Isaac Newton
Telescope and the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope. The overall
observatory site is operated by the IAC, and is home to a large and
growing number of telescopes, including the 10-m GRANTECAN. The
observatory is renowned for its generally very good observing
conditions with highly transparent and dark skies, and excellent
seeing conditions (see http://www.iac.es/gabinete/orm/). The
observatory itself provides facilities for accommodation as well
as engineering facilities for maintenance and repair, and for
essential consumables.
Management and operational constraints and models
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For the telescope to remain operational and supported by the ING the
full running cost will have to be financed by the interested parties.
Only long-term (years) commitments to use the telescope will be
considered under this announcement. For reasons of efficiency and cost
effectiveness the telescope should be in operation at least 50% of the
nights for a minimum of two years. This operational threshold could be
shared between different users. Depending on the expressions of
interest received, consortia could be created ad-hoc, or groups could
combine their scientific objectives into a single operational plan.
But within these general boundary conditions, ING is open to consider
all possible astronomical modes of use of the telescope.
Using the telescope as a training tool for university students would
be accepted, but all else being equal scientific use would take priority.
The existing CCD detector will be available for use at the telescope,
but interested parties may also bring or develop their own instrument.
Groups from anywhere in the world may express interest and will be
considered on equal terms.
Ownership of the telescope and infrastructure would remain with ING.
Cost indication
---------------
The agreed cost will scale with the level of service provided
by the observatory, which again depends on how the telescope will be
used. Hence a precise figure cannot be provided at this stage, but
it is anticiapted to be in the region of 100,000 Euros per year for
year-round use, depending of the service given by the observatory.
This indicative cost would include consumables, basic system
maintenance and problem solving on a best-efforts basis, but
excludes night-time support, system enhancements, as well as any
cost associated with the presence of observers at the telescope.
It must be noted that under the international agreements that provide
the foundation for the observatory, up to 25% of the observing time
must be offered to the spanish or wider observatory community. The
means to satisfying these agreements can be worked out through
discussion with those expressing interest in using the JKT.
Expressions of interest
-----------------------
Expressions of interest for the future use of the JKT should be sent,
preferably by email to the address below. You will receive an
acknowledgement of receipt.
Your statement should include an indication of how you expect to use
the telescope (i.e. for a specific long-term scientific programme, as
part of a consortium, student training etc) and how you expect to
acquire funding. Note that at this initial stage no firm commitments
are requested.
Expressions of interest should be received by September 5th. These
will be reviewed by observatory management and the ING Board and
subsequently taken forward for detailed discussion.
Further enquiries can be obtained at the same address given below.
Date: 1 July 2003
Dr R G M Rutten
Postal address:
Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes
Apartado de Correos 321
E-38700 Santa Cruz de la Palma
Spain
email: rgmr@ing.iac.es
tel: +34 922 425421 (direct)
+34 922 425400 (switchboard)
fax: +34 922 425408
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Dr. Rene G.M. Rutten - Director ING
Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes tel: +34 922 425421 (direct)
Apartado de Correos 321 tel: +34 922 425400 (switchboard)
38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma fax: +34 922 425408 (private)
Islas Canarias fax: +34 922 425401 (central)
SPAIN email: rgmr@ing.iac.es
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