CALL FOR PROPOSALS TNG and REM
AOT 50 (2024B) is now open for proposals.
Applications for observing time for the period
October 1st, 2024 - March 31st, 2025
are solicited and should be submitted by
Friday, May 24th, 2024, 12:00 UT.
The available time offered in this call at TNG via INAF-TAC is
44 nights, 10 of which are reserved to exo-planetary
research programs with Early Career PI (see special notices below) and 34
are for other science programs. We encourage applicants to submit
proposals asking a row of consecutive nights to be done in visitor
mode. All proposals will be judged strictly on their scientific merit.
The foreseen schedule breakdown is reported at the bottom.
LONG-TERM PROGRAMS can be requested answering this AOT50 call, see
below.
We will be accepting (few) Director's Discretionary Time proposals
during the whole semester.
TNG: please check our policy page (https://www.tng.iac.es/observing/director_time_policy.html),
then submit a proposal which will be judged by our staff in a few days.
These observations will be performed in Service Mode only.
REM: go to the DDT page (http://www.rem.inaf.it/submit.html) and use the specific form linked therein. A quick assessment will be returned in short time.
New application forms and detailed instructions can be downloaded
from the TNG web pages (https://www.tng.iac.es/submit.html).
The text of the Scientific Rationale has to be restricted to 1 page only.
One extra-page allowed for Long-Term proposals, please follow instructions
to fill it properly.
The PIs (ex officio) and CoIs (from 2 to 5) could be used as external
reviewers for the other proposals in this or next call. PIs should explicitly
inform their CO-Is that they will have to accept the review of other
proposals. (Box 16).
Incomplete computation of the overheads, poor target visibility in the
semester and, in particular, dense monitoring are recurrent weaknesses
pointed out when assessing the technical feasibility. Too dense cadence
(like, e.g., 1 visit per week or less) will be considered not feasible due
to scheduling issues.
Queueing mode is not available. Filler programs cannot be implemented.
Important information for a more careful preparation of the proposals
are reported at https://tngweb.tng.iac.es/call/info.html
New Protected Targets accepted by TAC will form a list available at
this address: (https://www.tng.iac.es/observing/protected.html)
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
NOTICE FOR AOT 50
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 (all topics are eligible),
characterizing the TNG role in the next 1-2 years. The basic features
of these "Long Term" programs are:
- Programs may extend up to 3 semesters, and use a maximum of 30 hours per semester.
- Programs can only use any of the permanently installed instruments at TNG.
- 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.
- The INAF-TAC can reduce a Long-Term Program to a regular one to be
executed in a single semester.
Exo-Planetary Research Programs
The renewed agreement between INAF and HARPS-N Collaboration allows
and promotes the use of HARPS-N at the TNG for the next 5 years. A
minimum of 75 nights per semester will be dedicated to exo-planetary
programs from Italian PIs or non-Italian but affiliated to the HARPS-N
Collaboration.
10 of these nights are reserved to Early Carreer researchers, less
than 5 years old from the discussion of their PhD thesis. Programs
related to exo-planetary research will be reviewed by a dedicated
TAC sub-panel and judged only for their scientific merit. The
agreement between INAF and the HARPS-N Collaboration specifies that
the available nights per semester will be roughly equally distribute
between the parties and that joint PI-ships between the parties are
welcomed and encouraged.
NATIONALITY RESTRICTIONS APPLY
INAF-TAC is receiving only Italian proposals for TNG, defined as
the PI and at least half of the participants being affiliated to an
Italian Institution. However, proposals belonging to the
exo-planetary research programs can be submitted by Italian PIs or
by any PI affiliated to the HARPS-N collaboration. Non-Italian
proposals should be submitted following the TransNational Access
provided by the OPTICON-Radionet Pilot project. This is valid for
Italian teams requesting the Nordic Optical Telescope, too. Indeed,
we remind that the Nordic counterpart decided to not continue in
the time-sharing agreement between TNG and NOT.
The Nationality restriction does not apply to REM proposals.
SiFAP2 offered as a visitor instrument at TNG
The high-temporal resolution photometer SiFAP2 is available as a
visitor instrument at the TNG. It is not a common-user instrument, but
it will be supported for a maximum of 27 hours. Before submitting the
proposal, the proponent team must contact the SiFAP2 PI Alessandro
Papitto (alessandro.papitto@inaf.it)
for a technical validation. Publications based on SiFAP2 data must
include builders as co-authors. For more information about SiFAP2 and
the available observing modes (photometry and linear polarimetry) see
https://www.tng.iac.es/instruments/sifap2/.
Polarimetry with DOLORES unavailable during semester AOT50
The spectro-polarimeter PAOLO (Polarimeter Add-On for the LRS Optics)
will be unavailable for most of the semester. If you are interested
in using this facility, please contact the instrument scientist of
DOLORES Luca di Fabrizio (difabrizio_at_tng.iac.es)
before writing any proposal.
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 fed 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 an 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.
AOT50 TIME BREAKDOWN
For sake of completeness, we report the foreseen TNG-time breakdown
for the AOT50 semester
- 34 nights (this call) for the INAF-TAC;
- 10 nights (this call) for the Exo-planetary science Program reserved to Early Career Researchers;
- 65 nights for the ongoing Large Programs of Exo-Planetary science;
- 31 nights for the Spanish CAT;
- 10 nights for the OPTICON-Radionet Pilot project, TransNational Access;
- 8 nights for the CCI International Time Program.
REM available time is 1000 hours.
