Fundación Galileo Galilei - INAF Telescopio Nazionale Galileo 28°45'14.4N 17°53'20.6W 2387.2m A.S.L.

AOT 42 Call for Proposal. Deadline Monday June 1st, 2020


CALL FOR PROPOSALS TNG and REM
also featuring NOT time

AOT 42 (2020B) is now open for proposals.

Applications for observing time for the periods

October 1st, 2020 - March 31st, 2021

are solicited and should be submitted by
Monday, 1st June, 2020, 12:00 UT.



Despite the difficult times we are experiencing, we are confident that TNG can regularly operate in the next semester. After a one month break, TNG resumed observations in safe conditions (http://www.tng.iac.es/news/2020/04/27/start_observations/) .

The available time offered at TNG via INAF-TAC is 16 (sixteen) nights in this call. This offer can be increased if not all the nights assigned to other calls will be effectively allocated by the respective TACs. The foreseen schedule breakdown is reported at the bottom.

LARGE and LONG-TERM PROGRAMS cannot be requested answering the AOT42 call. In particular, a Long-Term program on the optical counterparts of gravitational wave events is already running at TNG. Therefore, proposals on this topic will not be accepted anymore.

We will be accepting (few) Directory Discretionary Time proposals during the whole semester (http://www.tng.iac.es/observing/director_time_policy.html), which will be judged by the TNG staff in few days. These observations will be performed in Service Mode only.

TNG is a 3.58-m optical/infrared telescope located at Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory in the island of La Palma (Canary Islands). Its primary mirror is corrected by Active Optics and it is equipped with instruments for imaging and spectroscopy, spanning the optical and near infrared wavelengths range.
The offered instruments are: HARPS-N, NICS, DOLORES and GIANO-B (GIANO in Nasmyth B).
The observing mode GIARPS, simultaneously combining HARPS-N and GIANO-B, is also offered (see below).
For details, visit http://www.tng.iac.es

REM is a 60-cm robotic telescope located at La Silla ESO site (Chile) which can observe simultaneously with a visible and an infrared camera. The observations will be carried out in unmanned, queuing mode. INAF-TAC will allocate 1000 hours of observations.
REM is equipped with ROS2 visible camera and REMIR infrared camera. The two are observing simultaneously thanks to a dichroic.
ROS2 will produce simultaneous images in the four Sloan-like passbands g, r, i, z. Charged time is therefore not the sum of ROS2 and REMIR, but the greater between the two.
For details, see http://www.rem.inaf.it

NOT is a 2.56-m telescope, also located at Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory, next to the TNG. Offered instruments are ALFOSC (UV-optical imaging, polarimetry and low-resolution spectroscopy), NOTCam (NIR imaging, polarimetry and low-resolution spectroscopy), FIES (High-resolution, high-stability optical spectroscopy), MOSCA (High-resolution, high-efficiency UV-optical imaging), STANCam (Standby CCD imager).
For details, see http://www.not.iac.es/instruments/instruments.html
The double image polarimeter DIPol-UF is now available as a visitor instrument at the NOT. It allows for high-speed and high-precision broad-band polarimetry simultaneously in 3 pass-bands (BVR), but can also be used as a high-speed 3-band photometer. DIPol-UF is not a common-user instrument, but is only supported during specific periods. See for more information: http://www.not.iac.es/instruments/dipol-uf


NEW FORMS

Application forms and detailed instructions can be downloaded from the TNG web pages (http://www.tng.iac.es/submit.html).

Following new ideas on the refereeing process, the PIs and CoIs could be used as external reviewers for the other proposals in this or next call. The selected CoIs (from 2 to 5) must be indicated in the new Box 16.


An incomplete computation of the overheads is a recurrent weakness in the TNG proposals. This and other important information for a more careful preparation are reported at https://tngweb.tng.iac.es/call/info.html

Objects included in the TNG Protected Target List (http://www.tng.iac.es/observing/protected.html) cannot be requested.

All proposals will be judged strictly on their scientific merit.



NOTICE FOR AOT 42

The observational mode GIARPS at TNG

The light from the telescope is split into visible and infrared domains by means of a dichroic. The former feeds as usual HARPS-N, the latter is beamed into the new preslit of GIANO-B. The slit of GIANO-B is directly feed through a new optical relay instead of the previous fiber fed preslit. For efficiency and for overheads, please use the old GIANO page and recipe to prepare your proposals. They will serve as upper limit.

For those proposals wishing to use the dual GIARPS mode, please tick both HARPS-N and GIANO-B boxes in the submission form, and state it clearly in the text. Proponents must also report the respective total HARPS-N and GIANO-B observing times. The greater value will constitute the effective time request of the proposal. For technical reasons, please indicate the preferred instrument.

Due to a maintenance work, GIANO-B will probably not be available for three months from mid-January 2021.

NATIONALITY RESTRICTIONS APPLY

INAF-TAC is receiving only Italian proposals for TNG, defined as PI and at least half of participants being affiliated to an Italian Institution. Non-Italian proposals should be submitted following the OPTICON TransNational Access program. Special treatment is given to Nordic countries as explained in the next item.

The Nationality restriction does not apply to REM proposals.

COMMON OFFER FOR OBSERVING TIME TNG-NOT

The astronomical communities of Italy, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and the Universities of Iceland and Stockholm may apply for reserved observing time offered jointly on the TNG and NOT telescopes. Rules for applicants may be found here.

Accordingly, Italian scientists can submit normal observing proposals to the NOT, and vice versa. Due to the high-pressure on the NOT time, Italian astronomers will have access to 10 nights with the NOT telescope; proposals will be evaluated by the NOT-OPC. Nordic astronomers will have access to 5 TNG nights; proposals will be evaluated by the INAF-TAC. We strongly encourage the submission of joint "Italo-Nordic" proposals using NOT, TNG, or both telescopes. Applicants must use the proposal form for the telescope they are requesting. INAF staff and Associates will benefit of the same FGG funding scheme as for TNG observations.

The Italian community can request up to 10 (ten) nights on the basis of this exchange-time agreement.

REM NEWS

The infrared REMIR camera, presently unavailable, is foreseen to be repaired by mid 2020. Programs which were stopped due to La Silla shutdown will be put in a queue in the next semester, if possible. We suggest to submit a new proposal in order to get higher priority.

AOT 42 TIME BREAKDOWN

For sake of completness, we report the foreseen TNG-time breakdown for the AOT42 semester:

  • 43 nights for ongoing INAF Large Programs
  • 6 nights ongoing INAF Long Term Programs
  • 40 nights Harps-N Consortium GTO
  • 31 nights Spanish CAT
  • 10 nights OPTICON H2020 TransNational Access
  • 7 nights CCI International Time Program
  • 5 nights TNG-NOT joint call (this call)

REM available time is 1000 hours.


Ennio Poretti

Director
Telescopio Nazionale Galileo
Fundacion Galileo Galilei - INAF