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Internal JMU TAC Call for 2009A Proposals

1600 BST 2 September 2008

The LT TAC is now accepting proposals for JMU time for Semester 2009A. The deadline for submission is 15th October 2008. The total available time for JMU users in 2009A including over-allocated time is 116.5 hours.

Proposal process

Applications are submitted in two phases:

Phase 1 - science definition

Phase 1 proposals are sent to the TAG outlining the science case for observation. Please specify a "minimum usable fraction" (see below). See here for full instructions on how to prepare and submit your Phase 1 proposal.

Phase 2 - observation specification phase

Successful proposals are entered into the observing queue with one of three rankings:

A High priority programme. The TAG would like to see 100% completion of the observations.
B Medium priority programme. The TAG would like to see at least the MUF (Minimum Usable Fraction) of observations obtained, provided this does not impact of the completion of priority A programmes.
C Low priority programmes. These programmes are used to over-subscribe the observing queue so that the telescope is not idle. If observations are started for a programme then the scheduling software should aim to obtain at least the MUF of the observations, but not at the expense of completion of priority A or B programmes. There is generally additional time available for band C programmes, spread equally across all observing conditions. Some programmes may have time split between the above rankings.
Instrument availability

The instruments available are RATCam, SupIRCAM, RINGO, the Meaburn spectrograph (with a possibility of switching to FrodoSpec) and RISE.

  • RATCam is an optical CCD camera with a 4.6 x 4.6 arcmin field of view (0.135 arcsec/pixel unbinned).
  • SupIRCAM is an infrared camera operating at J or H band with a 1.7 x 1.7 arcmin field of view (0.4 arcsec/pixel).
  • RINGO is an optical polarimeter (4600-7200 AA at FWHM) that can measure polarization on timescales of ~10s.
  • Meaburn Spectrometer is a low dispersion spectrograph, using an input array consisting of 7 x 7 fibres (1.7 arcsecond): coverage of 3500-7000 AA in 4 wavelength ranges at ~4 AA resolution. (There is a possibility of proposals making use of FrodoSpec if it becomes available but proposals should be able to use the Meaburn.)
  • RISE is a fast-readout camera. It has a fixed "V+R" filter and reimaging optics giving a 7 x 7 arcmin field of view. An e2V frame transfer detector is used to obtain a cycle time of less than 1 second.
  • RINGO is considered to be an expert user instrument. Potential users should contact the LT Support Astronomer, Chris Moss ( ltsupport_astronomer@astro.livjm.ac.uk ) directly to discuss the capability of the instrument and feasibility of the observing programme before submitting an observing proposal. You are welcome to contact the support astronomer for other instruments as well.

Full information on the instruments is available here.

Telescope performance
  • The current rms pointing of the LT is 6 arcsec.
  • The current tracking performance provides seeing-limited images (FWHM < 0.8 arcsec) for exposures up to 1 minute without the auto-guider (open loop) and up to 30 minutes with the auto-guider (closed loop). Individual exposures with the auto-guider are limited to 30 minutes.

Ivan Baldry
LT JMU TAG chair