13th of March 2026
- NOT and TNG: Changes in Service Time and Introduction of a Fast Track channel from 2026B
Starting from 2026B, there will be the introduction of a Fast Track scheme on NOT and TNG, which will also imply some changes to the previous Service time scheme on these facilities.
Proposals requesting less than half a night per night that do not classify for a Fast Track scheme (see below) and that request observations during the months covered by 2026B will have to be submitted through the Standard Call for Proposals and identified as “Service” in the section “Observing mode” of the proposal. Observations will be carried out by telescope operators in service mode, during the nights scheduled as service nights. The dates (posted here https://ocan.iac.es/requesting-time/scheduled-service-ddt/) are established after the CAT meeting; however they are typically evenly spaced. A maximum of one service night per month per telescope is foreseen.
Suitable proposals for Fast Track are those that respect these conditions:
- unforeseen or urgent transitory phenomena
- a topic of particular impact or importance needing urgent action
- those with a high element of risk, but also having high impact if successful
- follow-up of previous observations, where urgent action might lead to a result of high impact or be of a decisive nature
- to demonstrate the viability of a given program or type of observations
- high impact programs initiated by the Director of the IAC.
- New proposal submission service from 2026B
Starting from 2026B, proposals will need to be submitted through the new proposal submission service (https://proposals.iac.es/).
Please note that both PIs and Co-Is need to be registered. It is advisable to proceed to registration and proposal preparation well in advance of the proposal submission deadline.
Requests for support on the proposal submission service should be directed at helpdesk-cat@iac.es
- Special call for WHT and Stella (11/8/2019) - A special call for WHT and STELLA proposals for Spanish CAT night observing time in semester 2020A hass been released. Deadline Nov 30, 2019, 22:59 Canarian time.
- Night CAT call for proposals 2020A (9/2/2019) - The call for proposals for semester 2020A of the night CAT has been released. Deadline on October 2, at 22:59 UT (Canarian time)
- Night CAT call for proposals 2019B (3/4/2019) - The call for proposals for semester 2019B of the night CAT has been released. The deadline is Wednesday, 3 April 2019, at 22:59 h Canarian local time (23:59 CEST, 21:59 UT).
- Night CAT call for proposals 2019A (9/4/2018) - The call for proposals for semester 2019A of the night CAT has been released. Deadline on October 2, at 23:59 UT.
- Call for IAC-Nordic NOT proposals for semester 2018B (5/9/2018) - We announce the call for IAC-Nordic proposals for semester 2018B. Deadline: 28 May 2018, at 17:00 h Canarian time (18:00 h CEST). Full announcement available here
- Night CAT call for proposals 2018B (3/6/2018) - The call for proposals for semester 2018B of the night CAT has been released. Deadline on April 3, at 23:59 UT.
- Night CAT call for proposals 2018A (9/4/2017) - The 2018A Spanish Night CAT and Spanish/Mexican collaborative time at the GTC call for proposals is available with proposals due October 3, 2017 (17 h Canarian Time). All applicants are recommended to read the call for proposals and check the highlights for 2018A.
- Special call for INT and Mercator 2017B (5/31/2017) - Special call for the INT and Mercator 2017B. Proposal due on Sunday, June 11th, at 17:00 h Canarian time (18:00 h CET)
- Special call for CIRCE polarization proposals 2017A (3/9/2017) - GTC opens a special call for observing proposals with CIRCE in polarimetric mode for semester 2017A. Due date: April 3, 2017, at 17 h Canarian time (18 h CET).
- Standard call for night CAT proposals semester 2017B (2/28/2017) - The 2017B Spanish night CAT call for proposals for the Canarian Observatories is now available and proposals are due on April 3rd, at 17 h Canarian time (18 h CET). The Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC) Spanish-Mexican collaborative time call for proposals is also open with the same due date. There are important changes with […]