ING ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR OBSERVING TIME IN 2005A Contents 1. ING Instrumentation in Semester 2005A 2. OASIS Offered on a Shared-Risks Basis 3. INGRID Not Offered at Cassegrain Focus 4. LIRIS Offered on a Shared-Risks Basis 5. WYFFOS Long-Camera Offered on a Shared-Risks Basis 6. Backup Proposals for Adaptive Optics 7. Opticon Trans-national Programme 8. Time-share Agreement with TNG for NL and UK Observers 9. Telescope Support: INT Support Model 10. New Visitor Instruments to the WHT 11. Submission Deadlines 1. ING Instrumentation in Semester 2005A ---------------------------------------- William Herschel Telescope For an overview of the proposal submission process and current instrumentation at ING, see http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/INGinfo_home.html WHT applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for larger time applications. For the UK community, the PATT2 application form allows a 2-page scientific justification for WHT proposals which are for *eight* or more nights, or are long-term (multi- semester) or are coordinated with other telescopes. The following instrument/detector configurations are available: Instrument Detector Comments ISIS BLUE EEV12 ISIS RED MARCONI2 AUX-port imager TEK1 Prime Focus Camera 2xEEV Mosaic AUTOFIB2/WYFFOS 2xEEV Mosaic Long camera, shared risks NAOMI/INGRID 1kx1k HgCdTe NAOMI/INGRID/OSCA 1kx1k HgCdTe NAOMI/OASIS 2kx4k MIT/LL Shared risks LIRIS 1kx1k HgCdTe Shared risks Adaptive Optics All AO observations are carried out in queue mode by ING staff. Applicants for AO observations are encouraged to consult the NAOMI instrument home page for more information about individual instruments and about AO performance: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/naomi/ Visitor Instruments Applicants wishing to submit proposals to use an established visitor instrument on the WHT should contact the relevant Instrument Contact in the first instance; WHT visitor instruments and contacts are: INTEGRAL Evencio Mediavilla, emg@ll.iac.es [INTEGRAL is available with the WYFFOS long-camera only] PN.S Nigel Douglas, ndouglas@astro.rug.nl SAURON Tim de Zeeuw, tim@strw.leidenuniv.nl S-CAM Michael Perryman, mperryma@astro.estec.esa.nl Ultracam Vik Dhillon, vik.dhillon@sheffield.ac.uk [Ultracam not available at ING in Semester 2005A] Applicants wishing to submit proposals to use a new (to ING) visitor instrument should read the following instructions: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/NewVisitorInstruments.html Isaac Newton Telescope Only one instrument/detector configuration is available on the INT: Instrument Detector WFC 4xEEV The WFC is offered in the default rotator position angle of 180-degrees only. However, in exceptional circumstances other rotator angles can be offered for the duration of the run only, i.e. changes to rotator angle during a run are not permitted. ING, in collaboration with Prof. John Beckman of the IAC, has recently purchased two H-beta filters for the WFC on the INT, H-beta broad (4861/170) and H-beta narrow (4861/30). These filters are offered in semester 2005A. INT observing time is allocated in blocks of one week on average, and observing programmes shorter than *4* nights are not accepted, unless explicitly agreed in advance by the Head of Astronomy or the Director of ING. For the UK community, the PATT2 application form allows a 2-page scientific justification for INT proposals which are either long term (multi-semester) or are coordinated with other telescopes. 2. OASIS Offered on a Shared-Risks Basis ---------------------------------------- The optical integral-field spectrograph OASIS, formerly at the CFHT, had successful commissioning runs on-sky with NAOMI in 2003, and further commissioning is scheduled in semester 2004B. OASIS is offered to the community on a shared-risks basis in semester 2005A. OASIS is now mounted permanently with the adaptive-optics system NAOMI, in the WHT's new AO-dedicated Nasmyth enclosure GRACE. Prospective applicants are reminded that the best-seeing period at ING occurs in the summer months (summer median seeing 0.5-arcsec, winter median seeing 0.8-arcsec), but applications are welcome for all parts of the semester. Observations with NAOMI/OASIS will be carried out by ING staff in queue mode, and are on a shared-risks basis. PIs need not budget for overheads such as spectral calibrations; standard calibration observations will be made routinely by ING staff as an integral part of the queue observations. For further information on OASIS please refer to the web page: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/oasis/ 3. INGRID Not Offered at Cassegrain Focus ----------------------------------------- INGRID is not offered at the Cassegrain focus in 2005A, but is offered at the GRACE Nasmyth focus with the adaptive optics suite. Applicants are reminded that INGRID can also be used in GRACE with the AO loop switched off; in this case a guide star is not needed, and throughput is reduced by ~0.5 magnitudes compared to that at Cassegrain. The FoV of INGRID in GRACE is 42 arcsec. At the Cassegrain focus, infrared imaging observations may be carried out with LIRIS (Section 4). The FoV of LIRIS at the Cassegrain focus is 4.2 arcmin. 4. LIRIS Offered on a Shared-Risks Basis ----------------------------------------- The long-slit intermediate resolution infrared spectrograph, LIRIS, built at the IAC, has imaging, long-slit and multi-object spectroscopy modes in the near-infrared (0.9-2.4 microns), and uses a Hawaii 1024x1024 HgCdTe detector operating at 65K. It is mounted at the Cassegrain focus; the plate scale is 0.25 arcsec/pixel and the field-of-view is 4.2 arcmin. LIRIS had a successful commissioning runs in 2003A and 2004A, and further commissioning is scheduled in 2004B. It is therefore offered in both imaging and long-slit spectroscopy modes in 2005A on a shared risks basis. LIRIS in multi-slit mode is available only in collaboration with the instrument builders; prospective applicants for LIRIS in this mode should contact Dr Arturo Manchado (amt@ll.iac.es) in the first instance. For further information on LIRIS and its performance please refer to the ING and IAC LIRIS web pages: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/liris/ and http://www.iac.es/proyect/LIRIS/ 5. WYFFOS Long-Camera Offered on a Shared-Risks Basis ------------------------------------------------------ The WYFFOS long-camera was commissioned at the end of July. However, due to adverse weather and technical problems unrelated to the long-camera, it did not prove possible to fully characterise its efficiency or throughput of the fibres. We expect an improved performance compared to the short-camera, but new performance figures will be published in October following the next AF2 service nights. Therefore the long-camera is offered with the 2xEEV mosaic for AF2 and the visitor instrument INTEGRAL in 2005A on a shared-risks basis. Further information on the performance of the long-camera will appear on the AF2 web pages as it becomes available: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/instruments/af2/index.html 6. Backup Proposals for Adaptive Optics --------------------------------------- In order to provide backup for periods of unsuitable atmospheric conditions for NAOMI and OASIS observations, we encourage proposals for ISIS which can be carried out in any sky conditions (that is, unspecified seeing and sky brightness). Such proposals will be reviewed by the national TACs in the usual way, and we envisage at least one such proposal per TAC will act as backup to the NAOMI/INGRID and NAOMI/OASIS service-mode periods. 7. Opticon Trans-national Programme ----------------------------------- Access to the ING telescopes under the auspices of the EC-funded Research Infrastructure Programme OPTICON is available to eligible astronomers from EU Member States and Associated States, and EC funding is available to cover their travel, accommodation and subsistence costs. Applications from new users and young researchers, and astronomers from countries without similar research facilities, are strongly encouraged. Proposals can be submitted to any of the ING time allocation committees by following their submission procedures and deadlines (Section 11), and will be judged strictly on scientific merit. Applicants are urged to read the local Opticon web pages for detailed information on eligibility and other aspects of the programme http://www.otri.iac.es/opticon/ 8. Time-share Agreement with TNG for NL and UK Observers -------------------------------------------------------- The time-share agreement with the TNG has proved to be very successful in previous semesters, and continues in semester 2005A. In this scheme, 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 spectroscopy mode only + The multi-object low-resolution optical spectrograph, DOLORES A minimum of five nights is available in total on the TNG in semester 2005A to the NL and UK communities, and in return the Italian community obtains access to the WHT for the same number of nights. For further details on the TNG observing guidelines and for instrumentation details, refer to: http://www.tng.iac.es/ Please note that NL and UK applicants for SARG, NICS or DOLORES should apply using their standard PATT form and should send these to their own national TAGs, and not directly to TNG. (CAT observers should apply for TNG time in the usual way). Successful applicants who meet the Opticon criteria of eligibility will be entitled to apply to the Opticon Trans-national Access Programme for their travel, accommodation and subsistence costs. NL- and UK-based astronomers may not apply to use the WHT via the timeshare agreement, but instead should submit their WHT applications directly to their own national TAC. 9. Telescope Support: INT Support Model --------------------------------------- Applicants are reminded that due to the impact of cost savings at ING, and operation of the INT as a single-instrument telescope, Telescope Operator (TO) support is no longer provided on the INT. TO support continues to be provided for each night of all WHT runs, and astronomical support is provided on the first night of each run on the WHT and, by student support astronomers, on the INT. 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. 10. New Visitor Instruments on the WHT ------------------------------------- PIs considering a proposal to the WHT around a new visitor instrument (i.e. new to ING) should email the Director well in advance of the proposal deadlines stating their intent, and should also submit a Technical Appraisal form. Further information on the protocol to be followed for submitting proposals centred around new visitor instruments, and a link to the Technical Appraisal form, is available at: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/NewVisitorInstruments.html 11. Proposal Submission Details ------------------------------- Details of how to submit a proposal, including deadlines, are given on the web pages of the Dutch, Spanish and UK time allocation panels: Dutch: http://www.astron.nl/wsrt/PC/ Spanish: http://www.iac.es/cat/info.html UK: http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/patt/PATT_Appl.html Ian Skillen, ING 16th August 2004