This page gives an overview of the instrumentation available on the WHT and INT, and on the TNG as part of the Italian, NL and UK TNG-WHT timeshare programme. It is revised bi-annually to reflect the options offered in each semester. Full information on all the listed instruments is indexed in the Manuals Home Page, and information on older instruments can be found on-line in the Obsolete Instruments section of the Manuals Home Page. A summary of the time allocation process is available here.

ING-TNG Timeshare Programme

As part of an ongoing formal collaboration between ING and TNG which gives the NL and UK communities guaranteed access to an echelle spectrograph, and the Italian community guaranteed access to a multi-object wide-field fibre-fed spectrograph, NL and UK observers may apply to use three TNG instruments. These are:

• The high resolution spectrograph, SARG
• The near infrared camera-spectrometer, NICS, in non-AO spectroscopic mode only
• The multi-object low-resolution optical spectrograph, DOLORES

Italian-based observers may apply to use three WHT instruments. These are:

• The multi-object wide-field fibre-fed spectrograph, AF2+WYFFOS
• The double-arm medium-resolution long-slit spectrograph, ISIS
• The Prime Focus Mosaic Imaging Camera, PFIP

Further details of the timeshare scheme, and how to submit a proposal, are available here.

NAOMI/INGRID and OSCA

Prospective NAOMI/INGRID applicants should read the most recent performance summary, and prospective applicants wishing to use the coronograph OSCA with NAOMI/INGRID should read its home page.

NAOMI/OASIS

Prospective applicants for OASIS should read the OASIS home page, and are reminded that OASIS may be used both with and without AO.

INGRID at the Cassegrain Focus

INGRID is not offered at the Cass focus in 2007A, but is offered at Nasmyth with the adaptive optics suite. It can also be used at Nasmyth with the AO loop switched off; in this case a guide star is not needed and throughput is reduced by ~0.5 mag compared to that at Cass.

LIRIS

The long-slit intermediate resolution infrared spectrograph, LIRIS, is offered in imaging, long-slit and multi-slit spectroscopy modes. The process of slit-mask preparation and manufacture takes approximately two months, and requires the LIRIS cryostat to be warm; PIs awarded time in multi-slit mode are strongly encouraged to initiate the design of slit masks at the earliest opportunity, and should contact the instrument specialist Mischa Schirmer (mischa@ing.iac.es) for further details as soon as the telescope schedules are published.

ULTRACAM

ULTRACAM will not be offered on the WHT in Semester 2007A. However, it is hoped that it will be offered in Semester 2007B.

New Visitor Instruments

PIs planning to submit a proposal based on a new (to ING) visitor instrument should follow the procedure for New Visitor Instruments.

IDS and WFC on the INT

The IDS and WFC are again both offered on the INT in Semester 2007A, and will be scheduled in blocks of at least four weeks' duration each. The minimum proposal length for either instrument is four nights unless agreed in advance by the Director or Head of Astronomy. Only a small number of instrument changes can be supported on the INT, and consequently both large and long-term proposals are encouraged to make best use of the available resources.

The IDS is offered with the 235mm camera only, but with the full range of gratings.

Several new narrow-band filters have been acquired for the WFC; see the WFC home page for further details.