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

AOT 41 Call for Proposal. Deadline Monday November 18th, 2019


CALL FOR PROPOSALS TNG and REM
also featuring NOT time

AOT 41 (2020A) is now open for proposals.

Applications for observing time for the periods

April 1st, 2020 - September 30th, 2020

are solicited and should be submitted by
Monday, 18th November, 2019, 12:00 UT.



The available time offered at TNG via INAF-TAC is 61 (sixty-one) 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.

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 Italian community can request up to 10 (ten) nights on the basis of the exchange time agreement (see below).

FORMS

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

Further important information for the proposal preparation is reported at http://barolo.tng.iac.es/call/info.html

Moreover, 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 41

LARGE PROGRAMS at TNG

Large-Program proposals cannot be submitted answering the AOT41 call. The PIs of the ongoing Large Programs are requested to submit a progress report on the activities carried out in the previous semesters (deadline Wednesday, 19th December, 2019). Instructions will follow separately. The TAC could revise the amount of time initially allocated to the Large Programs (see the AOT 41 time breakdown) and therefore the number of offered nights to normal proposals could vary accordingly.

LONG-TERM PROGRAMS at TNG

In this call the TNG re-opens observing time to less time-demanding programs, but still having the need to extend over a few consecutive semesters to be completed and/or to ensure the necessary follow-up.

The "Long Term" programs must be able to strictly address major open problems in modern astrophysics, characterizing the TNG role in the next 1-2 years. The basic features of these "Long Term" programs are:

  • All topics in modern astronomy are eligible.
  • Programs can only use any of the permanently installed instruments at TNG.
  • Programs may extend up to 3 semesters, and use a maximum of 30 hours per semester.
  • The Principal Investigator (PI) and least 50% of the participants must be affiliated to Italian Institutions. In the field of optical/infrared observations of Target of Opportunity objects, a worldwide collaboration is particularly encouraged. We emphasize the possibility to submit joint proposals between the Italian and Nordic communities in the framework of the common TNG-NOT offer (see below), thus exploiting the simultaneous use of NOT and TNG.
  • The INAF-TAC can reduce a Long-Term Program to a normal one to be executed in a single semester.



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.

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.

AOT 41 TIME BREAKDOWN

For sake of completness, we report the foreseen TNG-time breakdown for the AOT41 semester:

  • 61 nights for ongoing INAF Large Programs (43 nights foreseen, but subject to possible changes by the TAC) and new proposals
  • 40 nights Harps-N Consortium GTO
  • 31 nights Spanish CAT
  • 10 nights OPTICON H2020 TransNational Access
  • 8 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