Dear Colleague, This letter announces the release of the ING V1.0 telescope schedules for Semester 2007A. PIs, if you are not carrying out the observations yourself, please pass the information given in this letter on to your nominated observer. ING strongly advises that during the winter months, December to March, observers arrive on-island at least one day before the start of their run. Checklist for Observers ----------------------- At least one month in advance of your run (details below): + Complete the Computing Services form (below) for any additional computing requirements you may have (e.g. DHCP network access, more guest accounts). Four guest accounts per run and laptop network access with static IP address are provided by default. + Contact your SA and confirm your instrumental/detector setup + Arrange your La Palma travel and accommodation + Familiarise yourself with ING's Health and Safety guidelines + Contact the Seminar Organizer At the ORM: + Ask for a visitor's pack and torch on check-in, and remember to return your torch on check-out + Meet with your SA in the telescope control room no later than 3pm on the first day of your run The annual Carnavales period in Santa Cruz runs from 16th February to 25th February. Demand for inter-island travel and hotel accommodation during this period is likely to be very high, and observers are advised to book travel and accommodation early. Allocations and Schedules ------------------------- A compilation of the allocations, and the WHT and INT v1.0 schedules, are available on the ING web site and its UK mirror: http://www.ing.iac.es/ http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/ING/ by selecting "Astronomy", and then "Time Allocations" or "Schedules" respectively. Observers may make travel bookings based on these schedules. Please examine the schedules carefully, and inform me promptly of any inconsistencies in your allocation. Note that, especially for the WHT, the schedules are highly constrained, and it has been necessary in a few cases to shift allocations by one night in terms of lunar phase. All CAT and NL & UK PATT observers should be aware that there are override programmes active in this semester on the WHT and INT which may affect your programme. A summary of these override programmes and the procedure by which they are triggered and carried will be given at: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/overrides.html UK and NL PATT applicants awarded time on the TNG should check the TNG web site for scheduling details and guidelines for visiting observers: http://www.tng.iac.es/ Support ------- A Support Astronomer will be present on the first night of each run on the WHT and INT until 11pm to provide an introduction to the telescope, instrumentation and data acquisition systems etc. Please meet with your Support Astronomer in the telescope control room at 3pm on the first day of your run to begin your introduction. If you wish to discuss any aspects of your run before your formal introduction to the facility, you may arrange a preliminary meeting with your SA. The ING offices are at sea level, so it is likely such preliminary meetings would take place in ING's sea-level office in Santa Cruz; make any such arrangements with your SA well in advance of your arrival on La Palma. Due to the impact of cost savings at ING Telescope Operator (TO) support is no longer provided on the INT, and INT astronomical support is provided by student Support Astronomers. TO support continues to be provided for each night of all WHT runs. DDS3 tapes (INT/WFC) or DVD media (WHT and INT/IDS) will be provided for you to make a personal copy of your data; you do not need to bring your own media. Observers on the INT/WFC who expect to generate large data rates, and who would like to bring their own external Firewire or USB2 hard disk to write their personal copy of the data, should contact their Support Astronomer well in advance of their run stating this intention. Authorised short INT runs of less than 4 nights are in general block-scheduled, with Support Astronomer presence for the first night of the *block* only. Observers are reminded that 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. 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. PIs are requested to examine the schedules well in advance of their run, and to contact their Support Astronomer (listed on the schedules) for advice on planning observations and instrumental/detector setup. Please inform your Support Astronomer of who will be carrying out the observations for your programme. NOTE THAT INEXPERIENCED OBSERVERS MUST NOT BE SENT ALONE TO MAKE THE OBSERVATIONS; if in doubt over this, please seek the advice of your Support Astronomer. Observers bringing visitor instruments should allow enough time after the run to supervise packing of their equipment. ING will identify a contact person who will verify the contents and address to which the equipment is to be sent. A Contents Verification Form should be attached to each package/box being shipped from the ING. For further details, refer to http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/planning/travel.html#freight Travel and Accommodation ------------------------ You can make travel arrangements based on these schedules; PIs will be contacted individually about any subsequent changes in the schedules which affect them. For background information on planning your visit, please refer to the "Planning Observations" section of our Web pages: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/planning/ Accommodation at the observatory should be booked DIRECTLY using the Residencia web bookings form: http://www.iac.es/orm/residen/ Sea-level accommodation and transport to/from the observatory should be booked through ING: e-mail: bookings@ing.iac.es tel: +34 922 425410 fax: +34 922 425401 web: http://www.ing.iac.es/ds/booking/ Other useful ING telephone numbers are: Sea-level Office +34 922 425400 Residencia (Site) +34 922 405500 WHT Control Room +34 922 405559 INT Control Room +34 922 405640 Health and Safety Guidelines ---------------------------- Guidelines regarding Health and Safety issues for visiting observers are available at: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/planning/health.html and http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/planning/safety.html Visitor Programme ----------------- We run a full seminar and visitor programme, and we invite all observers to spend some time before or after their run at the ING sea-level office in Santa Cruz to give a seminar on their research or instrumentation work. Such a visit may also allow discussion of your run with, for example, your Support Astronomer. We have office and computing facilities for visitors, and a good library, so you can start reducing your data or read up on those journals of the past months. ING may well be able to cover your additional costs if your observing grant does not; just ask the Seminar Organizer, Javier Licandro (licandro@ing.iac.es): http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/science/seminars.html Computing Services ------------------ The Conditions of Use for users of ING Computers and Networks are described in the following document: http://www.ing.iac.es/~cfg/public/policies/aup.html and a description of ING's computing facilities for visiting astronomers is given in: http://www.ing.iac.es/~cfg/visitors.html Four Solaris guest accounts and laptop network access with static IP address are provided by default for each run. When configuring your laptop for network access, please select an IP address from the appropriate telescope section in the list of Telescope Assigned IP Numbers: http://www.ing.iac.es/~cfg/network/public/tempip.html For additional computing requirements, e.g. if you are bringing your own instrumentation and computers, or you require additional guest accounts or DHCP network access for your laptop, please complete the Computing Services Request Form for Visiting Astronomers: http://www.ing.iac.es/~cfg/pub_notes/request.php When the MAC address of your laptop network card is known to the ING network database, you will have DHCP network access (using this card) for future visits without the need to complete a form for each visit. Laptop access to the ING network, including wireless access, is available in the Residencia via the ING hub located in the Residencia terminal room. ING Standard Acknowledgement ---------------------------- The ING asks users of its facilities to give proper acknowledgement to this effect in the papers that they publish. This may be done in either of two ways: + preferably, as a footnote to the title: "Based on observations made with the (name of telescope) operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias" + if editors won't allow a footnote, then in the acknowledgements section: "The (named telescope) is operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias" Authors are asked to send the journal reference for such papers to the ING librarian (jma@ing.iac.es) on La Palma, and to the IAC in La Laguna. Good Observing! Ian Skillen ING Scheduler 13th December 2006