[ASA] Call for Proposals for 2.3m telescope time Aug-Oct 2012

Tue May 1 11:52:24 AEST 2012

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Dear Observer,

The closing date for observing proposals for time on the ANU/RSAA 2.3m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) in the quarter AUG - OCT 2012 is 23:59 May 15, 2012.  

Instruments available:
Nasymth A: WiFeS [see below]   Nasymth B: Imager or echelle.

WiFeS upgrade: In the current schedule for the WiFeS upgrade work the exact date that the instrument will become (temporarily) unavailable for observing is uncertain, but it may occur during in the August-October 2012 quarter.  Observers should therefore plan their proposals accordingly.  
Specifically, it is likely that any WiFeS programs awarded time in this quarter, particularly in the latter part of the quarter, will be provisional allocations only and may be withdrawn depending on the progress of the upgrade work.  In these cases specific backup programs that use the echelle or the imager will be identified.
The echelle and the imager will be available for the entire quarter.

Observing proposals must be submitted electronically via the RSAA web pages.
Full instructions are available at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/observing/.  You will need the most recent versions of the template and style files which can be obtained from the web pages.

*************************** PLEASE NOTE ***********************************

(1) WiFeS users are requested to indicate on the proposal form whether they will be present at the telescope or observe remotely.  Remote observing is available only to experienced WiFeS observers.  It is possible that remote observing (from Mt Stromlo only) will also be available in this quarter for the echelle and the Imager, under limited circumstances.  If you would like to observe remotely with the echelle or the Imager, assuming it is possible, then please indicate this iin your proposal.  Similarly, if you intend remote WiFeS observing from sites other than Mt Stromlo, please indicate this in your proposal so that we can ensure it's technically feasible.

(2) Proposals for use of the 2.3m will only be considered if the PI is from the ANU or from another institution that contributes financially or has contributed financially and directly to the building and/or operations of the 2.3m telescope and its commissioned instruments.  These institutions include those that collaborated on the successful ARC LIEF bid to fund the Blue Arm of the WiFeS spectrograph and the successful ARC LIEF bid for the WiFeS upgrade.  All such proposals will be judged on their scientific merit alone.  There will be no quotas placed on the amount of time available for qualifying institutions.  These policies will remain in place for the present.  Currently eligible (non-ANU) institutions are the AAO, UQld, UNSW and USyd as well as Swinburne, Monash and Macquarie.

(3) The WiFeS instrument is performing well although there remain issues with the CCD in the red camera.  A workaround has been implemented in which in which the frame is readout through one amplifier instead of four.  For a full frame (complete spatial and spectral coverage, x2 binning) the readout time is approximately 3 minutes.  For half the frame (50% spatial coverage but full spectral coverage) the read out time will be approximately 90sec. Observers will need to take this extra overhead into account.  PIs of successful proposals will be notified if there is any change in the status of the red camera CCD.  The Blue camera is working normally. The upgrade work will replace both detectors with new E2V 4k x 4k CCDs.

(4) Limited first night support at the telescope is now provided to new observers.  Nevertheless new observers are strongly encouraged to be present at the telescope at least one night before their observing run to familiarise
themselves with the telescope and instrument operating systems.
The current version of the WiFeS Observing Manual can be found at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/observing/wifes/WiFeS_Obs_Manual.pdf. This manual and other information on WiFeS (see http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/observing/ssowiki/index.php/WiFeS_Main_Page) are updated regularly.
Information on using the echelle is available at: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/observing/ssowiki/index.php/2.3m_echelle

(5) Proposers are reminded to limit their scientific case to TWO pages, including figures and references.  

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If you have technical problems in using the web-based submission process, please email tacinfo at mso.anu.edu.au.

Gary Da Costa
Chair, RSAA TAC
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Prof Gary Da Costa
Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU
Mt Stromlo Observatory
via Cotter Rd, Weston Creek, ACT 2611, Australia

Phone: +61 2 6125 8913 Fax: +61 2 6125 8913 E-mail: gdc at mso.anu.edu.au
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