This page lists override programs which may be activated during nights allocated through the CAT (Spanish TAC) on any of the telescopes on the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos and the STELLA Robotic Telescope on Observatorio del Teide. As a general rule, observers can be overriden only by Target of Opportunity (ToO) programs that obtained a higher grade during CAT’s evaluation. Also, observers cannot be overridden by more than one authorized program per night; if multiple override programs are active, their right to override is prioritized (see below). Details about the protocol by which overrides are triggered and executed depends on the telescope. As a good practice, it is recommended that the Principal Investigators (or contact investigator) of ToO proposals contact the observers by phone before the observations are made.
Visitor astronomers affected by ToO observations: if your program has been overridden, please fill the Override report.
There is no payback for the time lost to overrides. However, in the case that 4 hours or more are lost because of overrides in a single run, the CAT will try to compensate for the time lost in allocations in following semesters, or to compensate during CAT service time. This is not automatically managed, and therefore programs who have lost such amount of time because of overrides should explicitely state it in the newly submitted proposals, or contact CAT to see whether the lost time can be accommodated in service time.
- Policy for override programs at WHT and INT.
- Policy for override programs at NOT.
- Policy for override programs at TNG.
- Policy for override programs at GTC: CAT policy (starting in January 2017), and GTC additional information. As of semester 2017B, ToO programs in Q3 and Q4 are not approved.
Note: In case of conflict with the information provided next and the Web pages of the telescopes, the latter will take precedence.
Override programs approved per semester (since 2014B).
2022B
INT. The ToO program 36-MULTIPLE-4/22B (PI: Alberto J. Castro Tirado) is permitted up to 30 h with overrides of 1.0h per night with the WFC. It can override CAT service time on the INT and all CAT proposals.
NOT. The ToO program 41-MULTIPLE-4/22B (PI: Benjamín Montesinos Comino) is permitted up to 31.8 h with overrides of 0.4-1.0h per night with FIES. It can override CAT service time on the NOT and all CAT proposals except for proposal 45-MULTIPLE-8/21B (PI: Sergio Simón Díaz).
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT. ToO programs in band C and below on GTC are not approved. Click here to read about the ToO policy at the GTC.
2021B
TNG. ALL approved projects can be overriden by the Gravitational Wave program A38TAC_29. Lost time due to this override will be given back to the team by the TNG. Affected CAT PIs should fill in the form above and should keep contact with the TNG for getting their time back. More information is available here.
NOT. The ToO program 66-MULTIPLE-3/21B (PI: Josefa Becerra González) is permitted up to 7 h with overrides of 1h or 2h per night with ALFOSC. It can override CAT service time on the NOT and all CAT proposals except for proposals 45-MULTIPLE-8/21B (PI: Sergio Simón Díaz) and 84-MULTIPLE-3 (PI: Lluis Galbany, NOTCam).
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT. ToO programs in band C and below on GTC are not approved. Click here to read about the ToO policy at the GTC.
2021A
TNG. ALL approved projects can be overriden by the Gravitational Wave program A38TAC_29. Lost time due to this override will be given back to the team by the TNG. Affected CAT PIs should fill in the form above and should keep contact with the TNG for getting their time back. More information is available here.
NOT. The ToO program 128-MULTIPLE-4/21A (PI: Frédérick Poidevin) is permitted up to 10 h with overrides of 1h or 2h per night with ALFOSC. It can override all CAT NOT proposals.
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT. ToO programs in band C and below on GTC are not approved. Click here to read about the ToO policy at the GTC.
2020A
INT: see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
TNG. ALL approved projects can be overriden by the Gravitational Wave program A38TAC_29. Lost time due to this override will be given back to the team by the TNG. Affected CAT PIs should fill in the form above and should keep contact with the TNG for getting their time back. More information is available here.
NOT. 38-NOT6/20A is permitted up to 10 h with overrides of 1 h/night with ALFOSC. It can override all CAT proposals except for 101-NOT15/20A.
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT. ToO programs in band C and below on GTC are not approved. Click here to read about the ToO policy at the GTC.
2019B
INT: see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
TNG. ALL approved projects can be overriden by the Gravitational Wave program A38TAC_29. Lost time due to this override will be given back to the team by the TNG. Affected CAT PIs should fill in the form above and should keep contact with the TNG for getting their time back. More information is available here. CAT proposal 102-Multiple-2/19B is permitted up to 8h with ONE override with HARPS. It can override all CAT proposals.
NOT. 136-NOT-11/19A is permitted up to 15 h with overrides between 1 and 2.5 h each with ALFOSC. It can override all CAT proposals except for 115-NOT8/19B.
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT. ToO programs in band C and below on GTC are not approved. Click here to read about the ToO policy at the GTC.
2019A
WHT, INT: see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
TNG. ALL approved projects can be overriden by the Gravitational Wave program A38TAC_29. Lost time due to this override will be given back to the team by the TNG. Affected CAT PIs should fill in the form above and should keep contact with the TNG for getting their time back. More information is available here.
NOT. 167-NOT14/19A is permitted up to 15 h with overrides between 1 and 2.5 h each with ALFOSC. It can override all CAT proposals except for 112-NOT9/19A.
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT. ToO programs in band C and below on GTC are not approved. Click here to read about the ToO policy at the GTC.
2018B
WHT, INT: see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT. ToO programs in Q3 and Q4 on GTC are not approved from 2017B onwards.
2018A
WHT, INT: see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
NOT: 74-MULTIPLE-2/18A is permitted up to 4 overrides of 1 hour each with FIES. It can override all CAT proposals except for 130-MULTIPLE-2/18A.
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT.
ToO programs in Q3 and Q4 on GTC are not approved from 2017B onwards.
2017B
WHT, INT, see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT.
ToO programs in Q3 and Q4 on GTC are not approved from 2017B onwards.
2017A
WHT, INT, see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
TNG: 3-MULTIPLE-3/17A (PI: Pablo Santos Sanz) is permitted up to 4 overrides of 1 hour each with DOLORES. It can override the following CAT proposals only: 5-TNG2/17A, 95-TNG13/17A, and 58-TNG9/17A.
NOT: 109-NOT8/17A (PI: Lucía Suárez Andrés) is permitted up to 3 overrides of 4 hours each with FIES. It can override the following CAT proposals: 2-MULTIPLE-2/17A, 18-MULTIPLE-2/17A, 24-NOT3/17A, 102-NOT/17A, and 72-NOT5/17A.
For ToO programs approved at LT, Stella, and GTC, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT.
2016B
WHT, INT, see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
TNG: 111-MULTIPLE-3/16B (PI: Pablo Santos Sanz) is permitted up to 4 overrides of 1 hour each with DOLORES. It can override all CAT proposals with the exception of 128-MULTIPLE-16/15B (Rubiño Martín), 109-MULTIPLE2/16A (Rebolo López), 43-TNG5/16B (Alonso Sobrino), and 58-TNG7/16B (Pallé Bagó).
For ToO programs approved at robotic telescopes such as the LT or Stella, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT.
2016A
WHT, INT, see ING override page.
2015B
WHT, INT, see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
NOT: regular CAT programs cannot override IACNordic time, but IACNordic observers can be contacted to see whether they wish to help. 91-MULTIPLE-4/15B (Tescaro) is permitted 1 override of up to 4 hour with ALFOSC. It can override all scheduled CAT nights EXCEPT THOSE IN RUNS LASTING ONLY 1 NIGHT, and service CAT nights.
TNG: 151-MULTIPLE-3/15B (Ortiz Moreno) is permitted up to 4 overrides of 0.5 hour each with DOLORES. It can override all scheduled CAT nights. 91-MULTIPLE-4/15B (Tescaro) is permitted a maximum of 1 override of 4 hours with DOLORES. It can override over all scheduled CAT nights, with the exceptions of proposals 128-MULTIPLE-16/15B (Rubiño Martin) and 92-TNG12/15B (Perger), and it has lower priority that the ToO 151-MULTIPLE-3/15B.
For ToO programs approved at robotic telescopes such as the LT or Stella, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT.
2015A
WHT, INT, see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).
NOT: regular CAT programs cannot override IACNordic time, but IACNordic observers can be contacted to see whether they wish to help. 139-MULTIPLE-4/15A (Gorosabel) is permitted 2 overrides of up to 1 hour/each with any of the instruments ALFOSC, MOSCA, NOTCAM and STANCAM, for a total of maximum 8 hours. It can override all scheduled CAT nights and service CAT nights. 39-MULTIPLE-4/15A (Tescaro) is permitted 2 overrides of up to 4 hour/each with ALFOSC. It can override all scheduled CAT nights EXCEPT THOSE IN RUNS LASTING ONLY 1 NIGHT, and service CAT nights, but has lower priority than the ToO program above.
TNG: 36-MULTIPLE-4/15A (Ortiz Moreno) is permitted up to 4 overrides of 0.5 hour/each with DOLORES. It can override all scheduled CAT nights and service CAT nights. 39-MULTIPLE-4/15A (Tescaro) is permitted a maximum of 2 overrides of 2 hours each with DOLORES. It can override over all scheduled CAT nights and service CAT nights, with the exceptions of proposals 140-TNG18/15A (Rebolo) and 96-TNG11/15A (González Hernández), and it has lower priority that the ToO above. 144-MULTIPLE-2/15A (Gorosabel) is permitted a maximum of 1 override with NICS of up to two hours, and 2 overrides with DOLORES of up to 1 hour each. It can override over all scheduled CAT nights and service CAT nights, with the exceptions of proposals 140-TNG18/15A (Rebolo) and 96-TNG11/15A (González Hernández), and it has lower priority that the ToOs above.
Mercator: 36-MULTIPLE-4/15A (Ortiz) is permitted a maximum of 4 overrides of up to 0.5 hours with MAIA. It can override all scheduled CAT nights in which MAIA is used.
For ToO programs approved at robotic telescopes such as the LT or Stella, their queueing and priority are managed by the telescope teams following the ranking provided by the CAT.
2014B
WHT, INT, see ING override page (CAT programs start with character “C”).