Steward Observatory Facilities: 1 August 2017 to 31 December 2017
TAP Overview for 2017B
The Telescope Access Program (TAP) is a program to give astronomers based in China direct access to competitive instrumentation on intermediate- and large-aperture optical/infrared telescopes. We estimate that the following amount of time will be available for new programs:
Steward Observatory Facilities: Up to 5 MMT nights (or equivalent on smaller telescopes) and up to 2 Magellan nights [August - December, 2017]
Notes for 2017B
Near-infrared observations should request bright time. Any request for dark or gray time for near-infrared observations may cause the proposal to be rejected unless the request is justified explicitly with clear exposure time comparisons.
MMT bright time proposals will receive priority. TAP's past usage of MMT has been heavily skewed toward dark time. In 2017B, we will primarily be accepting bright time proposals.
Remote observing with P200/DoubleSpec (DBSP). We are exploring the possibility of implementing remote observing with DBSP. This mode of observing is already available from Pasadena. The remote observer can control the instrument from a remote desktop with the same software consoles as if they were at the telescope, and communicates with the telescope operator via a polycom-like interface. Remote observing enables monitoring or follow-up programs that require relatively small amounts of time spaced out regularly through the semester (e.g., one night per month). It is generally inefficient to send observers to the telescope for multiple short runs, but remote observing can make such a program feasible. We welcome proposals that could make use of DBSP remote observing, particularly for time-domain science. Any time awarded to such programs would be "shared risk", which means that time lost due to technical problems would be absorbed by the proposers. Anyone planning to observe remotely must be an experienced DBSP user, or must plan to observe classically with DBSP for their first run (if there are multiple runs). Anyone who has questions about DBSP remote observing can contact Eric Peng <peng@pku.edu.cn>.
M2FS on Magellan is a PI instrument. Any proposers who wish to use M2FS must contact Mario Mateo at least ten days before the proposal deadline. Any observations made with M2FS must be part of a collaborative agreement with the seven PIs, who will be given the option to be co-authors on any papers based on data taken with the instrument. M2FS observations are taken in queue mode.
As of 2015A, Steward Observatory access is no longer limited to MMT and Magellan. TAP proposers can now also request time on the Bok 2.3m and the Kuiper 1.5m. The maximum number of available Magellan nights is still 2 per semester, and the total amount of time available is the equivalent cost of ~5 MMT nights.
CFHT nights are calculated for instruments as follows: 1 night = 5.5 hrs MegaCam or 6.0 hrs WIRCam or 7.5 hrs ESPaDOnS, where number of hours is total expsoure time.
CFHT is continuing to accept proposals for SITELLE, an optical imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (IFTS) with an ~11'x11' field of view. This instrument acts like a wide-field integral field spectrograph, producing a spectrum at every pixel. Information on SITELLE can be found at: http://cfht.hawaii.edu/Instruments/Sitelle/
Proposal Submission
TAP is now accepting observing proposals up until the deadline. The links below provide more information and TAP, the available facilities, proposal information (criteria, templates, examples), and TAP policies.
Proposals for the P200 and Steward facilities should use the LaTeX proposal template. Please use the latest proposal template, available here: (tgz, zip). The proposal package contains a blank template, a .cls file, and an example proposal. Note that:
As of 2015B, there was a new proposal template that separates the experimental design and technical justification sections. Please use this new LaTeX template.
MMT proposals that use PI instruments should attach an approval email from the instrument PI.
All student investigators should have their advisor email TAP to state their approval and support for the student's involvement.
Some observing programs can be accomplished on more than one facility. Given that MMT and Magellan time are likely to be highly oversubscribed, we give the proposers the option of specifying "alternate runs" that could accomplish their science if the first option is not available. For example, a proposal for the Blue spectrograph on MMT might also be accomplished with more observing time with P200/DoubleSpec if the proposal rank is not high enough for MMT time. Giving the TAC this option will allow more flexibility in allocating time to the best science.
Adaptive optics at the 200-inch: The PALM-3000 adaptive optics facility (P3K) is operational, but anyone who would like to use it should contact TAP or Palomar Observatory to check on the current status.
If scheduling a time constrained proposal (e.g., exoplanet transit), it is good to check with the observatory if the instrument being requested can be scheduled at that time.
The TAC will expect to see updates on any previously approved TAP programs. Please include such updates in the proposal, if applicable. Any proposals that do not list the current status of previous allocations to investigators will be penalized.
The completed proposal PDF file should be emailed directly to telescope.access.program@gmail.com before the deadline. *Please read the full instructions on the TAP website for submission instructions.*
Advice for writing proposals
The 1st TAP Workshop was held at PKU/KIAA where presentations were given describing the facilities. You can download those presentations, which may be useful for proposal preparation. The 2nd TAP Workshop and 3rd TAP Workshop also have relevant presentations.
Please avoid these common mistakes from previous proposals:
No justification for lunar phase. In particular, any IR programs requesting time other than bright time must justify very clearly why.
No justification for requested image quality/seeing for CFHT queue programs
No justification for depth and signal-to-noise required for the science. It is not sufficient to simply say, "We require 2300s exposure time to reach S/N=10 for g=24 mag" if g=24 and S/N=10 are not also justified.
No justification for sample size or survey area. Why does the program need 66 galaxies? Why not 50? Why not 20?
What specific science question(s) will be answered by the program?
No mention of the current status of the field, work done by others, or why the proposal would be a significant advancement over what has already been done.
Do not exceed the page limits, or put information in the wrong sections of the proposal in order to circumvent page limits.
Please include an update on all programs where the investigators have received TAP time.
Any proposals that makes the above mistakes will have a much lower chance of being accepted.
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