The 2025 NEON Observing School will be hosted by the Hispanic Astronomical Center in Andalusia (CAHA), also known as the Calar Alto Observatory, on 2-14 February 2025. This school that is mainly funded by ORP provides hands-on observing experience on professional telescopes. During it the students will, together with an experienced tutor, go through all the steps from planning the observations to reducing and analysing the obtained data.

This school is mainly meant for Ph.D students in astronomy who do not have prior observing experience with professional telescopes. MSc students in the late stages of their thesis work and junior PostDocs can also be considered. The first half of the school consists of lectures, and planning and carrying out observations. The lectures include, among other topics, modern telescopes, detectors and observing techniques. The second half of the school is dedicated to group work on reducing and analysing the obtained observations, with students presenting their results at the end of the school.

The local costs, accommodation and meals, are covered by ORP, and some limited travel support is also available (and needs to be well justified and applied for on the application form).

More information on the school and the application form can be found here. 

The deadline for applications is Friday 18 October, and applicants will be notified about the selection in early November.