[ASA] AAT Proposal Call for Semester 2015A - deadline 5PM, 15 September 2014

Fri Aug 15 11:40:29 AEST 2014

    2015A    AAT Call for Proposals

The main proposal deadline for AAT and CTIO time-swap time in Semester 
2015A (February 2015 - July 2015) is:

*Monday, 15 September 2014, at 17:00*
*Australian Eastern Standard Time, i.e. UTC + 10 hrs*

Proposals to ATAC can be submitted from 20 August 2014 through until the 
deadline using the new Lens proposal form, and are welcomed from all 
astronomers worldwide. This AAT call for proposals is available online 
at https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/apply-for-observing-time .

    Applying for AAT Telescope Time through ATAC

      Important information for applicants

Time available for new proposals: Because of existing Large Programs and 
other obligations, there are roughly 93 nights available for new 
proposals in Semester 15A (12 dark, 19 grey, 62 bright). A call for 
Large AAT Programs 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/aat-large-programs> will 
/*not*/ be made in Semester 2015A. Proposals for Long Term AAT Programs 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/long-term-rules> are welcome 
in 2015A.

      New proposal submission system

The AAO is moving to a new proposal submission system, known as Lens. 
This system is a user account based system, which will allow for 
improved security and better tracking of past and current proposals.

At present, we are still in the testing phase of Lens, but anticipate 
that it will be available for general use from*Wednesday 20 August, 
2014*. An email with more details will be sent via the ASA exploder.

Users who have applied for time as PI in the past four semesters (i.e. 
starting from 2013A) have had accounts pre-configured. They will receive 
an email with their login details in the days leading up to the launch 
of Lens.

All other users are encouraged to register with the system at 
https://www.aao.gov.au/lens/register

/Note that users*cannot*be added to proposals if they are not registered 
in Lens./Please make sure that all investigators on a proposal have 
registered*well before the deadline!*

For any queries or comments, please emaillens at aao.gov.au 
<mailto:lens at aao.gov.au>.

      Instrument status

  * UHRF will not be available for use in 15A.
  * As of February 2014, AAOmega has a new blue CCD.  This has increased
    the throughput by an order of ~5% and, more importantly, is
    cosmetically much cleaner with only 0.04% of the pixels flagged as
    bad (compared to 0.8% for the old blue CCD).
  * The AAO will replace the red CCD in AAOmega during Semester 14B.
    This will provide a significant increase in throughput as well as
    extend the throughput out to ~1 micron. 

      HERMES status

HERMES is now a general-user instrument. Questions about expected 
instrument performance should be directed to the HERMES Project 
Scientist, Gayandhi De Silva (gayandhi.desilva at aao.gov.au 
<mailto:gayandhi.desilva at aao.gov.au>).

      KOALA status

KOALA (Kilo-fibre Optical AAT Lenslet Array) has replaced SPIRAL as the 
integral-field capability to AAOmega. KOALA has a 2x areal increase in 
the field-of-view over SPIRAL (at the same spatial resolution), a 
selectable spatial resolution of 0.7"or 1.25", an increase in throughput 
at all wavelengths, particularly at the extreme blue, and simplified 
field rotation.Information on KOALA 
<http://www.aao.gov.au/science/instruments/current/koala/overview>can be 
found in the instrumentation page and a new exposure time calculator is 
available. Questions about expected performance should be directed to 
the KOALA instrument scientist, Andy Green (andrew.green at aao.gov.au 
<mailto:andrew.green at aao.gov.au>).

      Remote observing

Since Semester 13A, remote observing from the AAO's North Ryde 
headquarters has been available as an option for all AAT facility 
instruments. 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 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/travel> support offered to AAT 
observers.

      Service time

If projects require fewer than 6 hours of observing time, they can be 
performed in service time. Applications for service time are made 
electronically direct to the AAO and reviewed every four months. See the 
AAT Service Observing 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/apply/service> page for more 
details.

    Applying for CTIO time-swap Time through ATAC

      AAO-CTIO time-swap arrangement

The AAO and NOAO/CTIO have initiated a time-swap arrangement, to allow 
our respective communities to maximise their scientific opportunities 
through access to a broader range of facilities.

In Semester 15A there will be 15 nights available to the Australian 
community to apply for CTIO time.

Generally a uniform distribution of lunations will be available to the 
Australian community. This uniform distribution is particularly 
important in B semesters (especially Sept-Nov) due to existing CTIO 
commitments. Note, DECam has been demonstrated to produce useful imaging 
in the reddest filters (izY) on all but the very brightest nights.

      Instruments available

The DECam imager, the ISPI IR imager and the COSMOS spectrograph are 
available for Australian proposals. COSMOS is available in an imaging 
and longslit spectroscopy (slitwidth of 0.6" or 0.9") modes. The 
multi-object spectroscopic capability of COSMOS is now available in a 
shared-risk mode. All scheduled observations will be carried out in 
classical mode with observers required to travel to the telescope.

Please review Current CTIO Instrumentation Status 
<http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/instruments-telescope#blanco> and 
CTIO Telescope Information 
<http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/Instruments> for more information.

      How to apply

Those who wish to apply for this time should do so using the Lens 
proposal system, selecting "CTIO 4m" from the telescopes menu on the 
first page of the proposal form.

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.

    How to Apply for AAT Time - the Basic Steps

      Instrument status and policies

All ATAC applicants should check the latest Instrument Availability 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/instruments/current/status> and recent 
Policy Announcements 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/policies>. If you require 
further clarification on any issue, then please contact the AAT 
Technical Secretary (aatts at aao.gov.au <mailto:aatts at aao.gov.au>).

See Special Override Rules 
<http://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/policies/overrides-at-the-aat> for 
proposals seeking time as an override on another program's time and the 
Long Term Program 
<http://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/long-term-rules> page for those 
seeking long term status. Proposals requiring at most 6 hours of 
observing time should be submitted to the AAO's Service Observing 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/apply/service> program.

If the PI, and at least half the observing team are from European 
countries, they may apply for AAT time through the OPTICON program 
<https://www.aao.gov.au/science/observing/Opticon-trans-national-access-program-at-the-AAO>.

      Proposal content

Full Technical Details, outlining how you derived your time estimates, 
observing constraints, and any special requests should be included in 
the scientific case (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.

All AAT applicants are required to *add on a 33% allowance for bad 
weather* to the total time you estimate you will need to reach the 
desired signal-to-noise, plus readout, slewing, and acquisition time.

All applicants should be aware that it is the policy of the AAO that any 
backup project must use the same instrument as the main project.

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. There is a 2-page limit for this target list PDF file. Other 
document formats will not be accepted.

      Proposal submission details

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. Other document 
formats will not be accepted.

The limit for pre-approved Long-Term programs is five pages. Please 
contact the ATAC Secretary, Helen Woods (helen.woods at aao.gov.au 
<mailto:helen.woods at aao.gov.au>) well in advance of submitting this kind 
of proposal.

      Submitting your proposal

When your proposal details are ready, submit your application to ATAC 
through Lens, the AAT's new proposal system. As noted above, this is a 
user-account-based system and all investigators on a proposal*must*be 
registered. Registration will open on Wednesday 20 August 2015 via 
https://www.aao.gov.au/lens/register.

    Contacting the ATAC Secretariat

The Secretary, ATAC
Australian Astronomical Observatory
PO Box 915
North Ryde  NSW 1670
Australia
Phone:  +61 (0)2 9372 4800    Fax:  +61 (0)2 9372 4880
Email enquiries:  Helen Woods (helen.woods at aao.gov.au 
<mailto:helen.woods at aao.gov.au>)

-- 

Lee Spitler

AAT Technical Secretary

Lecturer
Australian Astronomical Observatory &
Macquarie University

Sydney, Australia
P:  +61 (2) 9850 4161
www.physics.mq.edu.au
www.aao.gov.au

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