Diff for "CallforProposalS08"

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Call for Observing Proposals on the 30m Telescope for the March 2009 deadline

Summary

Proposals for three types of receivers will be considered for the coming winter semester:

1. the observatory's set of four dual polarization heterodyne receivers centered at wavelengths of 3, 2, 1.3, and 1.1 mm.
2. the 9 pixel dual-polarization heterodyne receiver array, HERA, operating at 1.3 mm wavelength
3. The MAMBO-2 bolometer array with 117 pixels operating at 1.2 mm; the smaller MAMBO-1 array with 37 pixels is kept as a backup.

Emphasis will be put on observations at the shorter wavelengths, but 3mm proposals are also encouraged inasmuch as they are suited for medium or low quality weather backup onservations. About 2000 hours of observing time are expected to be available.

What is new?

In addition to the normal observing proposals, IRAM invites applications for special Large Observing Programmes (see the announcement by P. Cox which appeared in the [http://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/calls/w08/w08/node46.html#Large August 2008 Newsletter]). On the 30m telescope, these Large Observing Proposals are restricted for the coming winter semester to the bolometer and HERA instruments. The proposal cover page provides a checkbox for identifying a Large Programme.

The next generation single pixel heterodyne receiver for Pico Veleta, EMIR (Eight MIxer Receiver), consisting of dual-polarization 4 GHz bandwidth mixers operating at 3, 2, 1.3, and 0.9mm, will provide a boost in sensitivity and observing capabilities, fully justifying its installation as soon as possible during the coming winter semester. Installation and commissioning will take about 4 weeks. During installation, observation with HERA or MAMBO can still proceed during night time, since the Nasmyth cabin optics are not affected at this stage. In view of the uncertain time scale and our lack of experience with EMIR, we request 30m proposers to use the performance of the current receivers for their estimate of observing time. Proposals scheduled after the installation of EMIR may see their time allocation adjusted accordingly.

An effort was made with EMIR to keep as much as possible of the frequency range below 83 GHz. As the final outcome will not be known before the proposal deadline, we recommend to interested astronomers to consider applying for these low frequencies now.

Remote observing is available from the IRAM offices in Granada and Grenoble, and from the remote stations in Madrid and Bonn. A remote station in Paris may also become available soon.

Applications

The official proposal cover page should be filled in with great care. All information on this page gets directly transferred into the IRAM proposal database. Attention should be given to Other requirements where the proposer can enter dates where he/she is not available for observing.

In order to avoid useless duplication of observations and to protect already accepted proposals, we keep a computerized list of targets. We ask you to fill in carefully the source list in equatorial J2000 coordinates. This list must contain all the sources (and only those sources) for which you request observing time. Your list must adhere to the format indicated on the proposal form. If your source list is longer than 15 sources that fit onto the cover page, please use the LATEXmacro \extendedsourcelist.

A scientific project should not be artificially cut into several small projects, but should rather be submitted as one bigger project, even if this means 100-150 hours of observing time. Note that large programs of particular scientific importance can be submitted in the [http://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/calls/w08/w08/node46.html#Large Large Programs category].

If time has already been given to a project but turned out to be insufficient, explain the reasons, e.g. indicate the amount of time lost due to bad weather or equipment failure; if the fraction of time lost is close to 100%, don't rewrite the proposal, except for an introductory paragraph. For continuation of proposals having led to publications, please give references to the latter.

Reminders

For any questions regarding the telescope and the control programs, we recommend to consult the [http://www.iram.fr/IRAMES/ncs30m/ NCS web pages] and our page with the [http://www.iram.es/IRAMES/mainWiki/TelescopeSystemSummary summary of telescope parameters].

The report entitled "Calibration of spectral line data at the IRAM 30m telescope" explains in detail the applied calibration procedure. Both documents can be retrieved from [http://www.iram.fr/IRAMES/otherDocuments/manuals/index.html here]. A catalog of well calibrated spectra for a range of sources and transitions (Mauersberger et al. [9]) is very useful for monitoring spectral line calibration. A copy of the 30m file with the calibrated spectra can be downloaded from the [http://www.iram.fr/IRAMES/dataarchive/linecal/init.html Spanish web site].

The astronomer on duty (whose schedule can be found at [http://www.iram.es/IRAMES/mainWiki/AstronomerOnDutySchedule here] should be contacted well in advance for any special questions concerning the preparation of an observing run.

Frequency switching is available for both HERA and the single pixel SIS receivers. This observing mode is interesting for observations of narrow lines where flat baselines are not essential, although the spectral baselines with HERA are among the best known in frequency switching. Certain limitations exist with respect to maximum frequency throw ($\le 45$ km/s), backends, phase times etc.; for a detailed report see [4]. This report also explains how to identify mesospheric lines which may easily be confused in some cases with genuine astronomical lines from cold clouds.

If your observations with the 30-m telescope results in a publication, please acknowledge this in a footnote "Based on observations with the IRAM 30-m telescope. IRAM is supported by CNRS/INSU (France), the MPG (Germany) and the IGN (Spain). Please email a copy of the publication to Dennis Downes (downes@iram.fr).

Observing time estimates

Pooled observing

Service observing

Remote observing

Technical Information about the 30m Telescope

HERA

The single pixel heterodyne receivers

Extended tuning range: 72 - 80 GHz.

General point about receiver operations.

Polarimeter XPOL

MPIfR Bolometer arrays

The Telescope

Beam and Efficiencies

Pointing and Focusing

===== Wobbling Secondary =====

Backends