Caltech Optical Observatories

Call for Proposals - Semester 2011A

This Call is CLOSED

Proposals Were Due 30 September 2010

This Material Provided for Reference Only

Telescopes

• Keck I & Keck II, with possible trades with GEMINI and SUBARU.
• Palomar 200-inch.
• Palomar 60-inch (service observing only).
• Palomar Oschin Telescope (service observing only).

Eligibility

• Caltech Faculty, Senior Research Associates, Senior Research Fellows, Post-Doctoral Scholars, Senior Research Staff and Graduate Students may apply for observing time .
• Applicants must be in residence at Caltech at the time proposals are submitted.
• Caltech Faculty and Senior Research Associates may submit any number of Keck and/or Palomar proposals.
• Caltech Senior Research Fellows, Post-Doctoral Scholars and Senior COO Staff may submit any number of Palomar proposals but are limited to one Keck proposal per semester.
• Caltech Graduate Students may apply for Palomar time only.
• See COO Eligibility for more information

Proposal Format

• Each proposal should cover a single, coherent, well-defined scientific topic.
• Proposals consist of three parts: Cover Sheet, Discussion, Observing List.
• Cover Sheets -
• Keck (Caltech observers only) - Follow the procedures at www2.keck.hawaii.edu/observing/obswmkap.html Applying for Keck Telescope Time. Keck uses an on-line system with password protection to allow observers to retrieve and modify their cover sheets. If you are a returning observer, use the same account information as in previous semesters. If you are a new observer, request an account by following the instructions on the log-in page.
• Palomar - Fill in the on-line cover sheet at http://www.astro.caltech.edu/observatories/coo/solicit/2011A/Cover2011A.html Palomar Cover Sheet.
• Discussion - Provide a short description of the project, explaining the scientific goals and methodology, and justifying the time and equipment requested. For new projects, provide an estimate of the total time required to complete the work; for continuing projects, give the status of previously obtained data and an estimate of the time needed to finish. For projects in support of an approved thesis, include an estimate of the total observing time required, the time already allocated and the status of the data already in hand. Explain any constraints that may affect scheduling. For standard proposals, the TAC requires a maximum of two sides of 11- or 12-pt, single-spaced text with appropriate margins, and up to 2 sides of diagrams, tables and references. The limits for proposals for Large Projects are four sides of 11- or 12-pt single-spaced text for the discussion and four sides for diagrams, tables and references. N.B. Copies of proposals sent to the TAC will be reproduced in black & white format only.
• Observing List - Provide a list of targets to be observed, including names, coordinates, magnitudes (and band).
• When finished, combine your cover sheet, the discussion and observing list into a single pdf document (see note below) and attach it to an e-mail to your TAC. For Caltech observers: brucato@astro.caltech.edu (not later than 5:00 pm PDT Wednesday 29 September 2010). The subject line of the message should be in the following form: [your last name]-[Telescope]-[Your priority for this project compared to others you are submitting for the same telescope]. Examples: Jones-Keck-1 or Jones-P200-2
• Special Notes:
• For Keck instrument availability in 2011A (including those available by trade at GEMINI and SUBARU), go to www2.keck.hawaii.edu/observing/instavail.html Keck Instrument Availability. (Please Note: because it is difficult to arrange time trades with GEMINI and SUBARU, only projects assessed as high scientific priority by the TAC will be considered in this category.)
• Request full nights only. The Caltech TAC will not allocate partial nights at the Keck telescopes or at the 200-inch..
• Only a single proposal (cover sheet + discussion) is needed for a project involving both Keck I and Keck II.
• For projects involving both Keck and Palomar, submit the Keck and Palomar cover sheets separately. The discussion and observing list need only be attached to the Keck cover sheet.
• For projects involving more than one Palomar telescope, submit cover sheets for each separately. The discussion and observing list need only be attached to the cover sheet for the larger telescope.
• The adaptive optics system at the 200-inch (and, therefore, PHARO and P1640) will be out of service during the entire 2011A semester.
• Observers using the 200-inch telescope may request instruments to be installed simultaneously at the prime focus, Cassegrain focus and/or the east-arm focus (East Arm Echelle only). Please Note: The use of a secondary instrument must be identified on the cover sheet and justified in the proposal discussion. On the Cover Sheet, select the principal instrument to be used from the drop-down lists on the Observing Time Preferences table and specify the secondary instrument in the space provided under Additional Information. Secondary instruments should be requested only if they are integral to the program and if there is a very high probability that they will be used during the observing run.

Observing History & Bibliography

Submit a single, two-part document consisting of:

• Observing History: List the observing time allocated to you for all projects in the last four semesters and summarize the status of each.
• Bibliography - Provide a bibliography of your refereed papers based on Keck (or from observing time awarded through Keck trades) and/or Palomar data, published or submitted for publication during the last two years.

Attach the report (as a pdf document) to an e-mail to your TAC. For Caltech observers: brucato@astro.caltech.edu (not later than 5:00 pm PDT Wednesday 29 September 2010) with the subject line in the following form: [your last name]-History. (For example: Jones-History) Submit this report as a completely separate document. Do not include it in your proposal(s).

Special Observing

• Target of Opportunity Observing (Caltech observers) - See www.astro.caltech.edu/observatories/coo/TOO/ToOpolicy.htmlToO Policy.
• Large Projects (Caltech observers)- See www.astro.caltech.edu/observatories/coo/solicit/LargeProj.html Large Project Proposals.
• Palomar 60-inch Telescope (Caltech observers) - Up to 20% of the time at the 60-inch may be allocated to Caltech observers for general research. Service observing only.
• Oschin Telescope (Caltech observers) - Up to 20% of the time at the Oschin Telescope (with the MOSAIC camera) may be allocated to Caltech observers for general research. Service observing only.

200-inch Telescope Instruments

Private and Semi-private instruments may be requested only with the prior approval of the instrument builder.

Note on Merging PDF Documents

To combine the cover sheet and discussion section of a proposal, use the full version of Acrobat (Acrobat Reader will not work) or the joinpdf program on the AY Unix computers. Also see www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/mergepdf.html.

Semester 2011A COO Proposal Solicitation Page v 1.1
Last updated: 21 September 2010 RJB/AFB