[ASA] 2020B Blanco telescope (CTIO) Call for Proposals for the Australian Astronomy Community

Fri Feb 21 13:06:05 AEDT 2020

2020B Blanco Telescope (CTIO) Call for Proposals

The proposal deadline for the Blanco Telescope in Semester 2020B  (August
2020 - January 2021) is:

23 March 2020, at 17:00

Australian Eastern Daylight Time (UTC + 11 hrs)

The AAL and NOAO/CTIO is continuing a time-swap arrangement between the AAT
and the 4m Blanco Telescope in 2020 to allow our respective communities to
maximise their scientific opportunities through access to a broader range of
facilities. This semester, there will be 5 nights of CTIO time on the Blanco
Telescope available to the Australian community. 

Proposals will be assessed by the Australian Time Allocation Committee
(ATAC), and as such they must follow the new ATAC Policies and Procedures
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/mPgSCANZvPiNNJA7XUGxz9p?domain=astronomyaustralia.org.au
ac_policies.pdf>  and be submitted before the deadline using the Lens
proposal form (https://www.aao.gov.au/lens). All graded proposals will be
provided to CTIO for scheduling.

The Blanco telescope offers two instruments, the wide-field imaging camera
DECam and the CTIO Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (COSMOS). The
purpose-built Dark Energy Camera (DECam) was used for the Dark Energy Survey
that imaged nearly a billion galaxies. Note that DECam can produce useful
imaging in the reddest filters (izY) on all but the very brightest nights.
The COSMOS instrument can be used in imaging, long-slit and multi-object
spectroscopy modes. 

Further details about the available nights and instruments can be found from
the last NOAO 2020A Call for Proposals
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/gVZPCBNZwLi77J5Erf6dyyx?domain=ast.noao.edu> . The NOAO 2020B
Call for Proposals is due for release 01-Mar-2020 (MST; UTC-7:00) with the
updated information. 

All scheduled observations will be carried out in classical mode, with
observers required to travel to the telescope at their own expense. 

How to apply for Blanco time 

All ATAC applicants should check the  ATAC Policies and Procedures
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/mPgSCANZvPiNNJA7XUGxz9p?domain=astronomyaustralia.org.au
ac_policies.pdf>  and recent Policy Announcements
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/WD38CD1jy9t55rlgzHAQNdk?domain=aat.anu.edu.au> . For further
clarification on any issue, please contact the ATAC Technical Secretary (aat
- at - astronomyaustralia.org.au
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/yrsMCE8kz9t33o5R2CPnaJs?domain=protect-au.mimecast.com
stralia.org.au> ).

Those who wish to apply for Blanco time should do so using the Lens proposal
system (https://www.aao.gov.au/lens) described below, selecting "CTIO 4m"
from the telescopes menu on the first page of the proposal form. 

Lens proposal submission system

All proposals should be submitted with the AAT's online application system
Lens (https://www.aao.gov.au/lens/home
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/ZX_yCGvmB5i11Z5jRfkUcjs?domain=protect-au.mimecast.com>
), which will open on the day this call is made. This system is a user
account based system, which allows for improved security and better tracking
of past and current proposals. There is a FAQ
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/42ZhCJyp0qhqqLE0vSOCPcE?domain=aao.gov.au>  available for Lens online, or available
via the FAQ tab in Lens itself.

All new users must register (https://www.aao.gov.au/lens/register
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/hOEdCK1qJZt22x53NtoNMYq?domain=protect-au.mimecast.com>
) with the system.

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

For any queries or comments, please email: lens - at - aao.gov.au
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/_VT5CL7rK8tRRMnErHKgCD4?domain=protect-au.mimecast.com>

Important information: anonymous-double blind review trial

The AAT Consortium places a high value on equity and integrity and is
trialling an implementation of the dual-anonymous proposal review process
for all regular proposals (including proposals for the Blanco Telescope) in
2020B. In this process, the identities of the proposing team are concealed
from reviewers. The goal is to enable reviewers to focus on the science, not
the scientist. Several studies have shown that a reviewer's attitude toward
a submission may be affected, even unconsciously, by the identity of the
lead author or principal investigator (see the Anonymous-Double Blind Review
Annotated Bibliography
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/C25gCMwvLQTqqV4E1SOzrNz?domain=stsci.edu
uments/anonymous-double-blind-review-annotated-bibliography.pdf> ).
Proposers are required to anonymise their proposals following the guidelines
below. Sufficient care should be used, especially if resubmitting a proposal
from a previous cycle or other submission. Lead investigators should avoid
directly disclosing their identity in the science or technical justification
sections. 

The names and affiliations will not be included in the proposals generated
for the ATAC reviews.

Anonymity Guidelines for Proposers. 

These guidelines will help conceal the identities of the proposers and
ensure a fairer proposal evaluation process. 

1.       Do not include author names or affiliations anywhere in the
proposal text. This includes but is not limited to, page headers, footers,
diagrams, figures, or watermarks. This does not include references to past
work, which should be included whenever relevant (see below).

2.       Referencing is an essential part of demonstrating knowledge of the
field and progress. When citing references within the proposal, use third
person neutral wording. This especially applies to self-referencing. For
example, replace phrases like "as we have shown in our previous work (Doe et
al. 2010)" with "as Doe et al. (2010) showed..." Do not refer to previous
projects using AAT or other observatories in an identifying fashion. For
instance, rather than write "we observed another cluster, similar to the one
we are proposing under AAT program #XXXXX," instead write "AAT program
#XXXXX has observed this target in the past..."

3.       We encourage references to published work, including work citable
by a DOI. It may be occasionally important to cite exclusive access datasets
or non-public software that may reveal (or strongly imply) the investigators
on the proposal. We suggest proposers use language like "obtained in private
communication" or "from private consultation" when referring to such
potentially revealing work.

4.       Do not include acknowledgements, or the source of any grant
funding. 

Examples of re-worked text can be found on The Space Telescope Science
Institute (STScI) website
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/oVIKCNLwM9i005mv8F88nvZ?domain=outerspace.stsci.edu
sing> . 

A strict compliance with these guidelines is required. Feedback on these
changes are welcome and should be sent to the ATAC Technical Secretary (aat
- at - astronomyaustralia.org.au
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/PwfJCOMxNytpprmqjiY7Ra8?domain=protect-au.mimecast.com
stralia.org.au> ).

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).

Proposers should demonstrate that their team has the skills and experience
with the required observing modes to effectively conduct the proposed
observations.

Important: Please include this information under a separate heading "Team
Expertise and Background". Note the ATAC will conduct their pre-grading
without access to this section. Once the ranked list is set, the ATAC will
be given access to the "Team Expertise and Background" information
associated with each proposal recommended for implementation. At this point,
proposals may only be flagged for downgrade (resulting in a non-selection of
the proposal), if a team is clearly unqualified to undertake the work
proposed.

Proposals should be written so that the content and significance is
understandable by astronomers with different backgrounds. 

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 scientific ranking cut-off,
when some priority may be given.

A list of the principal targets 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. Those three pages should include all references and figures,
use 11pt font (or larger), and have at least 10mm margins. Numerical
referencing should be used (e.g. "as shown by [1].", instead of "as shown by
Smith et al. (2017)" ). Colour figures are accepted. Other document formats
will not be accepted.

Submitting your proposal

When your proposal details are ready, submit your application to ATAC
through Lens, the AAT's online proposal submission system. As noted above,
this is a user-account-based system and all investigators on a proposal must
be registered.

Contacting the ATAC Secretariat 

Postal Address: 

PO Box 2100 

Hawthorn VIC 3122 

Street Address: 

AAO - Macquarie University
105 Delhi Rd, North Ryde NSW 2113
Australia

Phone: +61 (0)2 93724842 

E-mail: aat - at - astronomyaustralia.org.au
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/bZZICP7yOZtKKAEyRfRzBYw?domain=protect-au.mimecast.com
stralia.org.au>  

Web: www.astronomyaustralia.org.au/aat.html
<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/KIoSCQnzP0tkk4jzpCn2Ahw?domain=protect-au.mimecast.com
stralia.org.au> 

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