LARGE SCALE IMAGING SURVEYS WITH
THE INT WIDE FIELD CAMERA
2nd ANNOUNCEMENT OF
OPPORTUNITY
Observations beginning Semester 2001A (February
2001)
During the spring of 1997 the Wide Field Camera (WFC) was
commissioned in the prime focus of the 2.5-meter Isaac Newton
Telescope on La Palma. The WFC offers unique opportunities for the
UK/NL communities to execute high resolution, deep, wide field
optical imaging surveys.
At its meeting in October 1997 the ING Board (formerly the Joint
Steering Committee) considered ways to stimulate the use of the INT
Wide Field Camera for survey programmes. The committee reflected on
the changing role of the INT in the era of the 8-meter class
telescopes. It considered the INT ideally suited for programmes of
target selection for later follow-up study with large telescopes,
and for larger scale survey programmes with a clear scientific goal
in their own right.
The first call for proposals resulted in five
programmes being awarded time under the umbrella of the ING's
Wide Field Survey (WFS) programme. These ran for the period August
1998 to January 2001. Details and links to these programmes are
available at
www.ing.iac.es/WFS In view of the success of the initial WFS
period, the ING Board has recommended the continuation of this
survey programme.
Rules for
applications
This 2nd Announcement of Opportunity makes available
substantial amounts of observing time with the prime focus Wide
Field Camera on the Isaac Newton Telescope. The announcement is
intended for a small number of large scale survey programmes which
would normally be beyond the scope of the bi-annual time allocation
system. Observing time may be spread over more than one semester,
starting during semester 2001A, and spanning a period up to three
years. A review of progress is foreseen annually, on the basis of
which further observing time will be granted. No specific limit is
set to the amount of observing time that may be requested, but the
ING Board have stated that approximately five weeks per
semester (covering dark, grey or bright time) will be available for
the WFS.
Applicants may wish to set up collaborations between research
groups in order to generate the widest possible interest in the
proposed survey, or combine various science objectives within the
survey programme definition. Equally welcome are proposals that
have a well focussed single scientific objective. Applications to
continue or modify existing WFS programmes are permitted.
Final selection will be based on scientific merit (including
potential additional uses of the data), timeliness, and technical
feasibility of the proposed observations. Proposals must fall
outside the remit of the bi-annual time allocation process. The
planning and scheduling of the observations will be carried out in
conjunction with ING project staff, in order to best maximise the
efficiency of the survey.
The data will immediately be made available to the UK and Dutch
research community in semi-processed form, and later fully
processed (i.e. astrometrically and photometrically calibrated -
see the
CASU/ ING WFS pipeline description), through the ING WFS archive.
Hence the usual one year proprietary period will not apply to data
obtained through this Announcement of Opportunity.
The review of the submitted proposals will be carried out under
the auspices of the
UK PATT and NL NFRA
Programme Committee, by a panel whose composition will be
decided by them.
The results of the review process are anticipated following the
meetings of the panel in December 2000.
This announcement is open to PIs currently working in the
United Kingdom and the Netherlands only .
How to apply for
time
The following details have to be supplied in the application,
which should be laid out on no more than six pages as
described below:
Page 1:
Title of proposal
Name of PI and affiliation
Names of CoIs with affiliation
Postal and email address of PI
Summary of proposal (max 200 words)
List of targets with filter passbands & exposure times
Pages 2 and 3:
Detailed science case. The applicants should note how the proposed
work will relate to and improve or enhance existing or proposed
surveys with other facilities. Any possible additional uses of the
data should be highlighted.
Page 4:
Figures & references
Page 5:
Technical description which must include:
(i) feasibility,
(ii) specification of target magnitude limits, and justification
of required number of (dark, grey, bright) nights.
Page 6:
Plan for data analysis and description of how the data will
subsequently be used. This should include a list of individuals on
the project and their role.
Proposals should be sent by electronic mail to the ING PATT
Technical Secretary(Dr Ian Skillen: (ingpatt@ing.iac.es) . Proposals
should be submitted in Postscript, LaTex or ASCII text formats
only. Any accompanying figures should be supplied in PostScript
format. Figures should be sent by email as individual messages with
the PI, Proposal title and Figure number clearly indicated in the
email Subject line.
A confirmation of receipt shall be provided to the PI.
Deadline for submission is Midnight (UT+1)
30 September 2000.
Technical
background
The INT Wide Field Camera holds four thinned 4096x2048 pixel EEV
CCDs with a pixel size 13.5 micron which projects to 0.33 arcsec on
the sky.
The chip layout in the focal 111112222233333
plane covers an L-shaped part 111112222233333
of the sky, where the outer 111112222233333
perimeter has a length of 111112222233333
34 arcmin. The diagram to 111112222233333
the right indicates how the 111112222233333
four chips are oriented. 4444444444
The total area covered is 4444444444
0.27 square degree. 4444444444
The chips are thinned and have excellent QE performance. [For
details on QE and CCD Characteristics see the CASU/ING WFS
pages.]
Full technical information on the INT-WFC is available at the CASU/ING
WFS pages
WFC broad-band detection
limits
Limiting magnitude estimates for a 600 sec exposure through the
sloan-gunn filters are given in the following table, assuming a
dark sky and a median seeing of 1.0 arcsec.
Waveband
|
5 sigma limit
(AB mag)
|
1 sigma SB limits
(AB mag/sq arcsec)
|
Exposure Time
|
|
u
|
24.1
|
26.3
|
600
|
g
|
24.7
|
26.9
|
600
|
r
|
24.2
|
26.4
|
600
|
i
|
23.7
|
25.9
|
600
|
z
|
22.3
|
24.5
|
600
|
|
The current cycle time of the mosaic between exposures is 55
seconds (of which 30 seconds is readout). During this time the
telescope can be slewed and autoguiding started, hence the readout
time determines the deadtime.
The sloan-gunn and harris broad band glass filter sets are
available for the WFC plus a KPNO-type B-band filter. The Stromgen
u,b,v,y set plus a number of narrow band filters are also
available. Full details on filter lambda, FWHM, peak transmission
can be found on the ING WWW site at
http://www.ing.iac.es/~quality/filter/filt4.html
The
original Semester 1998B Announcement of Opportunity
is available for reference.
further details may be obtained from the ING WFS project
manager, Dr. N.A. Walton (
naw@ing.iac.es).
This page last updated: 24 July 2000
naw@ing.iac.es
|