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Internal JMU TAG Call for Proposals for Semester 2011A

1730 BST 9 September 2010

Time available and deadline

The deadline for submission is 15 October 2010. The time available to eligible applicants allocated by the next JMU-TAG meeting will be about 180 hours for 11A, including over-allocation.

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. See telescope.ljmu.ac.uk/PropInst/phase1.php for instructions on how to prepare and submit your Phase 1 proposal. Please be sure to specify a "Minimum Usable Fraction" (MUF - see below).

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, FrodoSpec, RISE and RINGO2.

RATCam is an optical CCD camera with a 4.6 x 4.6 arcmin field of view (0.135 arcsec/pixel unbinned).
FrodoSpec is an IFU spectrograph using an input array consisting of a 12 x 12 lenslet array (approx. 10x10 arcsec field of view). The wavelength coverage is 3800-10000Å at R~2400 in one exposure (using two beams), or using reduced wavelength coverage in each beam at R~5400.
RISE is a fast-readout camera. It has a fixed "V+R" filter and reimaging optics giving a 7x7 arcmin field of view. An e2V frame transfer detector is used to obtain a cycle time of less than 1 second.
RINGO2 is a fast readout imaging polarimeter. Filter 460-720nm, field of view 4x4 arcmin.

Note that all instruments are now designated common user, but potential users are welcome to contact LT Support Astronomers Robert Smith or Jon Marchant directly, to discuss the capability of the instrument and feasibility of the observing programme well before submitting an observing proposal.

Information on the instruments is available at: https://telescope.ljmu.ac.uk/TelInst/Inst/

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

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.