Special call for INT and STELLA-SES proposals – Semester 2022B

This is a special call for STELLA-SES and INT proposals for Spanish CAT night observing time in semester 2022B.  Proposal submission deadline is Monday, June 20th, 2022, at 22:59 h Canarian time or 23:59 h CEST.

  • We recall that every proposal within the Spanish CAT scheme must be led by a principal investigator (PI) affiliated to an Institution in Spanish soil. 
  • Applicants can assume that the usual B-semester range or right ascension is observable. 
    • Stella: August – January
    • INT: August – January
  • No large programs are offered in this special call for proposals.
  • Available telescope time:
    • Stella-SES: 204 h
    • INT: 35 nights
  • Only proposals requesting Stella (SES) or INT observing time will be accepted for evaluation. To submit proposals, use the http://cat.iac.es tool by selecting “Spanish CAT (CATESP)” type. Please, be cautious when selecting the telescope(s) during the submission phase.

STELLA

Only the SES instrument is offered:

  • SES has no change with respect to previous calls for proposals. 

INT 

Detailed information provided by the ING Observatory can be found in the ING call for proposals. All potential applicants must become familiar with the series of changes in instrument availability and of observing time at the INT driven by the arrival of new survey instruments. The changes are summarized here. 

The main changes for 2022B are:

  •  Offered instruments are: 
  • Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for large time allocations within the semester.
  • Large programs are NOT offered in this special call for proposals.
  • Users should be aware of the instrument changes that will take place in coming semesters for a proper preparation of their INT proposals.
  • In semester 2022B, the INT is expected to operate in normal visitor mode. Safety measures to address Covid-19 risks will be adjusted as the pandemic situation changes (see here). 
  • Inexperienced INT observers MUST be accompanied by an experienced observer. ‘Inexperienced’ here means unable, alone, to make efficient (and safe) use of the observing night, whether from general lack of observing experience, or from lack of experience with the specific techniques/instruments to be used. Observers will be responsible for all aspects of operation, from opening the dome in the evening and operating the telescope and instrumentation throughout the night to parking the telescope and closing the dome at the end of the night. 

How to submit

Applicants must ensure that their proposals comply with the required page limits and layout indicated below. ALL proposals must be written in English. To send proposals, use the night time CAT application tool at http://cat.iac.es.  A simple manual to learn how to deal with this application is available in this pdf document. To submit a proposal, the PI and co-Is need to be registered. If you are already registered but you do not remember your password, please do NOT register twice (in order to avoid confusions for statistical purposes). You can find instructions about how to reset your password in the same webpage or contact the CAT for additional help.

THERE IS A NEW FORM to build the scientific case of the CAT proposals. All applicants of standard and large proposals are kindly requested to use this new form, which is available here  (a “tar” file will be downloaded; read the README file first).  Please note that applications forms are different for LARGE (long-term) and REGULAR programs. Note also that the time request in the on-line application tool has changed, as one should now specify the  time requested for each semester by creating as many “Observations” as needed.

In the evaluation of proposals, CAT will take into account the publications derived from previous observations with the CAT telescopes. Therefore, in the BIBCodes menu of the application tool, remember to update the fields Comment and Bibliographic code  for all proposals approved in the last two years.

Before the deadline expires, please check that the uploaded pdf file (created with the new form) contain the latest version of your proposal, and that it prints correctly. No replacement or updating of the proposal content will be made after the deadline, and those proposals which do not correctly print out or lack relevant sections will be automatically withdrawn from the evaluation process. Those proposals where the font size (12pt) has been reduced or the text of the scientific justification exceeds limitations (one page for common/regular proposals and two pages for large programmes) will also be withdrawn. Figures and Tables cited in the scientific justification should fit a maximum of one page (normal proposals) and two pages (large programs). It is advised to follow the instructions described at http://cat.iac.es/faces/ayuda/pdf_latex.jsf

UPDATED on 8 June 2022. 

Contact: catiac at iac.es