MMT: 1 Sep 2012 to 31 Dec 2012
Magellan: 1 July 2012 to 31 Dec 2012
CFHT, P200: 1 August 2012 to 31 January 2013
Proposal Deadline: 30 March 2012 at 17:00 China Standard Time
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TAP Overview for 2012B
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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 on four facilities:
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (3.6m): 45 hours [August, 2012 - January, 2013]
Palomar Hale Telescope (5.1m, P200): 7-10 nights [August, 2012 - January, 2013]
MMT Telescope (6.5m): 3 nights [September - December, 2012]
Magellan (6.5m): 2 nights [July - December, 2012]
Note that the scheduling for MMT and Magellan is slightly different than for other telescopes. For the MMT, we are scheduling the autumn trimester (Sep-Dec: 3 nights). For Magellan, we will schedule one semester, but it begins and ends one month earlier than CFHT and the P200. Starting in 2013A, MMT will move to a semester schedule.
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Proposal Submission
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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.
The TAP website main page: http://info.bao.ac.cn/tap/
Available Instrumentation: http://info.bao.ac.cn/tap/?q=node/17
Proposal Information: http://info.bao.ac.cn/tap/?q=node/3
TAP Policies: http://info.bao.ac.cn/tap/?q=node/14
Proposals for CFHT time should be uploaded directly to the CFHT Northstar Proposal Tool: http://jcdbs1.cfht.hawaii.edu:8180/ . The Northstar tool will be open for proposals starting late-February.
Proposals for the P200, MMT, or Magellan should use the LaTeX proposal template available for download via the above links. The proposal package contains a blank template, a .cls file, and an example proposal. Note that:
- Proposals for the P200 should also include a Palomar Observatory Cover Sheet, which will be available in late-February, at:
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/observatories/coo/solicit/2012B/Cover2012BP200.html
- 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 operational status of the PALM-3000 adaptive opticsfacility (P3K) is not yet defined in 2012B but will be clarified by 5 March 2012. Please check the Caltech Optical Observatory Call for Proposals (http://www.astro.caltech.edu/observatories/coo/solicit/2012B/Call2012B.html) after 5 March for further information on the availability of P3K.
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.*
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Advice for writing 2012B proposals
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In February, 2011, the 1st TAP Workshop was help at PKU/KIAA where presentations were given describing the facilities. You can download those presentations, which may be useful for proposal preparation, at:
http://vega.bac.pku.edu.cn/~peng/tapworkshop/program.html
Please avoid these common mistakes from 2011B/2012A 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*.
Any proposals that makes the above mistakes will have a much lower chance of being accepted.
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2nd TAP Workshop
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The 2nd TAP Workshop will be held March 16-17, 2012 at NAOC in Beijing. Registration is now open, and for more information see:
http://info.bao.ac.cn/tap/?q=node/20
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We invite all astronomers in China to form teams, develop observing programs, and submit proposals. We encourage programs of all sizes, both small and large, provided they are justified by the science. If after reading the web site you have further questions, please email your inquiry to telescope.access.program@gmail.com.
