[INGNEWS] ING ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR OBSERVING TIME IN 2005B

From: Danny Lennon (djl@ing.iac.es)
Date: Wed Feb 16 2005 - 01:27:21 PST

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    ING ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR OBSERVING TIME IN 2005B

    Contents

    1. ING Instrumentation in Semester 2005B

    2. OASIS

    3. INGRID Not Offered at Cassegrain Focus

    4. LIRIS

    5. WYFFOS Long-Camera

    6. ULTRACAM Expected To Be Offered in 2005B

    7. Backup Proposals for Adaptive Optics

    8. Opticon Trans-national Programme

    9. Time-share Agreement with TNG for NL and UK Observers

    10. Telescope Support: INT Support Model

    11. New Visitor Instruments to the WHT

    12. Submission Deadlines

    1. ING Instrumentation in Semester 2005B
    ----------------------------------------

    William Herschel Telescope

    For an overview of the proposal submission process and current
    instrumentation at ING, see

    http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/INGinfo_home.html

    WHT applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for larger
    time applications. For the UK community, the PATT2 application
    form allows a 2-page scientific justification for WHT proposals
    which are for *eight* or more nights, or are long-term (multi-
    semester) or are coordinated with other telescopes.

    The following instrument/detector configurations are available:

    Instrument Detector Comments
    ISIS BLUE EEV12
    ISIS RED MARCONI2
    AUX-port imager TEK1
    Prime Focus Camera 2xEEV Mosaic
    AUTOFIB2/WYFFOS 2xEEV Mosaic Long camera
    INGRID 1kx1k HgCdTe At Nasmyth only, 42 arcsec FoV
    NAOMI/INGRID 1kx1k HgCdTe
    NAOMI/INGRID/OSCA 1kx1k HgCdTe
    OASIS 2kx4k MIT/LL
    NAOMI/OASIS 2kx4k MIT/LL
    LIRIS 1kx1k HgCdTe

    Adaptive Optics
    All AO observations are carried out in service mode by ING staff.
    Applicants for AO observations are encouraged to consult the NAOMI
    instrument home page for more information about individual
    instruments and about AO performance:

      http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/naomi/

    Visitor Instruments
    Applicants wishing to submit proposals to use an established
    visitor instrument on the WHT should contact the relevant
    Instrument Contact in the first instance; WHT visitor instruments
    and contacts are:

    INTEGRAL Evencio Mediavilla, emg@ll.iac.es
    PN.S Nigel Douglas, ndouglas@astro.rug.nl
    SAURON Tim de Zeeuw, tim@strw.leidenuniv.nl
    S-CAM Michael Perryman, mperryma@astro.estec.esa.nl
    Ultracam Vik Dhillon, vik.dhillon@sheffield.ac.uk

    NB: INTEGRAL is available with the WYFFOS long-camera only.

    Applicants wishing to submit proposals to use a new (to ING)
    visitor instrument should read the following instructions:

    http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/NewVisitorInstruments.html

    Isaac Newton Telescope

    Only one instrument/detector configuration is available on the INT:

    Instrument Detector
    WFC 4xEEV

    The WFC is offered in the default rotator position angle of
    180-degrees only. However, when there is compelling scientific
    justification, other rotator angles (0, 90 or 270-degrees) can be
    offered for the duration of the run only; changes to rotator
    angle during a run are not permitted. Such requests should be
    justified in the original telescope proposal.

    INT observing time is allocated in blocks of one week on average,
    and observing programmes shorter than *4* nights are not accepted,
    unless explicitly agreed in advance by the Head of Astronomy or
    the Director of ING.

    For the UK community, the PATT2 application form allows a 2-page
    scientific justification for INT proposals which are either long
    term (multi-semester) or are coordinated with other telescopes.

    2. OASIS
    --------

    The optical integral-field spectrograph OASIS, formerly at the
    CFHT, had successful commissioning runs on-sky with NAOMI in
    2004, and further commissioning is scheduled in semester 2005A.

    OASIS is mounted permanently with the adaptive-optics system
    NAOMI, in the WHT's new AO-dedicated Nasmyth enclosure GRACE;
    It can be used with or without adaptive optics. Prospective
    applicants are reminded that the best-seeing period at ING
    occurs in the summer months, but applications are welcome
    for all parts of the semester. Observations with OASIS or
    NAOMI/OASIS will be carried out by ING staff in service mode.

    PIs need not budget for overheads such as spectral calibrations;
    standard calibration observations will be made routinely by ING
    staff as an integral part of the service observations.

    For further information on OASIS please refer to the web page:

    http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/oasis/

    3. INGRID Not Offered at Cassegrain Focus
    -----------------------------------------

    INGRID is not offered at the Cassegrain focus in 2005B, but is
    offered at the GRACE Nasmyth focus with the adaptive optics suite.
    Applicants are reminded that INGRID can also be used in GRACE
    with the AO loop switched off; in this case a guide star is not
    needed, and throughput is reduced by ~0.5 magnitudes compared
    to that at Cassegrain. The FoV of INGRID in GRACE is 42 arcsec.

    At the Cassegrain focus, infrared imaging observations may be
    carried out with LIRIS (Section 4). The FoV of LIRIS at the
    Cassegrain focus is 4.2 arcmin.

    4. LIRIS
    --------

    The long-slit intermediate resolution infrared spectrograph, LIRIS,
    built at the IAC, has imaging, long-slit and multi-object spectroscopy
    modes in the near-infrared (0.9-2.4 microns), and uses a Hawaii
    1024x1024 HgCdTe detector operating at 65K. It is mounted at the
    Cassegrain focus; the plate scale is 0.25 arcsec/pixel and the
    field-of-view is 4.2 arcmin.

    LIRIS has been successfully commissioned, and is offered in both
    imaging and long-slit spectroscopy modes in 2005B. LIRIS in multi-slit
    mode is available only in collaboration with the instrument builders;
    prospective applicants for LIRIS in this mode should contact Dr Arturo
    Manchado (amt@ll.iac.es) in the first instance.

    For further information on LIRIS and its performance please refer to
    the ING and IAC LIRIS web pages:

    http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/liris/
    and
    http://www.iac.es/proyect/LIRIS/

    5. WYFFOS
    ---------

    The WYFFOS long-camera was commissioned successfully in August 2004.
    Due to adverse weather it has not proved possible to fully
    characterise its efficiency and throughput of the fibres; the latest
    performance figures are listed at:

    http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/af2/

    The long-camera is offered with the 2xEEV mosaic detector for both
    AF2 and the visitor instrument INTEGRAL in 2005B.

    6. ULTRACAM Expected To Be Offered in 2005B
    -------------------------------------------

    ULTRACAM is expected to be offered on the WHT in 2005B. Prospective
    applicants should contact Dr Vik Dhillon (Vik.Dhillon@sheffield.ac.uk)
    in the first instance for further details. Information on the
    performance and capabilities of ULTRACAM are available at:

    http://www.shef.ac.uk/physics/people/vdhillon/ultracam/

    7. Backup Proposals for Adaptive Optics
    ---------------------------------------

    In order to provide backup for periods of unsuitable atmospheric
    conditions for NAOMI and OASIS observations, we encourage proposals
    for ISIS which can be carried out in any sky conditions (that is,
    unspecified seeing and sky brightness).

    Such proposals will be reviewed by the national TACs in the usual way,
    and we envisage at least one such proposal per TAC will act as backup
    to the NAOMI/INGRID and NAOMI/OASIS service-mode periods.

    8. Opticon Trans-national Programme
    -----------------------------------

    Access to the ING telescopes under the auspices of the EC-funded
    Research Infrastructure Programme OPTICON is available to eligible
    astronomers from EU Member States and Associated States, and EC
    funding is available to cover their travel, accommodation and
    subsistence costs. Applications from new users and young researchers,
    and astronomers from countries without similar research facilities,
    are strongly encouraged.

    Proposals can be submitted to any of the ING time allocation
    committees by following their submission procedures and deadlines
    (Section 11), and will be judged strictly on scientific merit.
    Applicants are urged to read the local Opticon web pages for detailed
    information on eligibility and other aspects of the programme

    http://www.otri.iac.es/opticon/

    9. Time-share Agreement with TNG for NL and UK Observers
    --------------------------------------------------------

    The time-share agreement with the TNG has proved to be very
    successful in previous semesters, and continues in semester
    2005B. In this scheme, NL- and UK-based observers may apply
    to use three TNG instruments. These are:

      + The high resolution spectrograph, SARG
      + The near IR camera-spectrometer, NICS, in non-AO spectroscopy
         mode only
      + The multi-object low-resolution optical spectrograph, DOLORES

    A minimum of five nights is available in total on the TNG in
    semester 2005B to the NL and UK communities, and in return the
    Italian community obtains access to the WHT for the same number
    of nights.

    For further details on the TNG observing guidelines and for
    instrumentation details, refer to:

      http://www.tng.iac.es/

    Please note that NL and UK applicants to the timeshare should
    apply using their standard PATT form and should send these to
    their own national TAGs, and NOT directly to TNG. (CAT observers
    should apply for TNG time in the usual way). Successful applicants
    who meet the Opticon criteria of eligibility will be entitled to
    apply to the Opticon Trans-national Access Programme for their
    travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

    NL- and UK-based astronomers may not apply to use the WHT via the
    timeshare agreement, but instead should submit their WHT applications
    directly to their own national TAC.

    10. Telescope Support: INT Support Model
    ----------------------------------------

    Applicants are reminded that due to the impact of cost savings at
    ING, and operation of the INT as a single-instrument telescope,
    Telescope Operator (TO) support is no longer provided on the INT.

    TO support continues to be provided for each night of all WHT runs,
    and astronomical support is provided on the first night of each
    run on the WHT and, by student support astronomers, on the INT.

    Filter and/or grating changes within a run will be accommodated
    provided that they have been explicitly requested in the telescope
    proposal. However, due to limited human resources, additional
    changes to the instrumental configuration may not be accommodated.

    11. New Visitor Instruments on the WHT
    --------------------------------------

    PIs considering a proposal to the WHT around a new visitor
    instrument (i.e. new to ING) should email the Director well in
    advance of the proposal deadlines stating their intent, and should
    also submit a Technical Appraisal form. Further information on the
    protocol to be followed for submitting proposals centred around
    new visitor instruments, and a link to the Technical Appraisal form,
    is available at:

    http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/NewVisitorInstruments.html

    12. Proposal Submission Details
    -------------------------------

    Details of how to submit a proposal, including deadlines, are given
    on the web pages of the Dutch, Spanish and UK time allocation panels:

    Dutch: http://www.astron.nl/wsrt/PC/
    Spanish: http://www.iac.es/gabinete/inves/tiempo1.htm
    UK: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/patt/PATT_Appl.html

    Ian Skillen, ING
    15th February 2005
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