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Call 2023A

Call for Proposals to be supported via the Opticon Radionet Pilot (ORP) Trans-National Access programme (Grant Reference Number 101004719) in semester 2023A.

The call for observing time at OPTICAL telescopes supported by the ORP Trans-National Access programme will close on 31 August 2022 at 23.59UT exactly. Radio telescopes in the ORP are not included in this call. Please review this note carefully, even if you have used the TNA programme before.

The semester is centred on February 2023 to August 2023, but there are small variations at some telescopes to accommodate their normal semesters and maximise scheduling flexibility.

Note that due to the Covid pandemic there may still be disruption to scheduled observations. Some observatories may be forced to close temporarily, or may not be able to host visiting observers. Runs so affected will not automatically be rescheduled, this will depend on local observatory policies.

Note that technical support for the submission software is not provided out-of-hours or on weekends and late applications will not be accepted, so please complete your application in plenty of time.

Proposals must meet certain rules for formal eligibility concerning team membership. Please pay attention to those rules or your proposal may be rejected without any scientific evaluation. Note that 'The user group leader and the majority of the users must work in a country other than the country(ies) where the installation is located'. Since many national astronomical facilities are located in remote sites we add the restriction that 'The group leader and the majority of the users must work at institutions which are outside the country/ies which operate the telescope'. The interpretation of 'majority' is 50% + 1 user, and the user group leader is a member of the user group. In the case of applicants with significant national infrastructures the proposal must contain an explanation of why the project cannot be executed with comparable national facilities. Please also note there is a prohibition on projects which could be applied for by the PI using national mechanisms open to them to access non-national telescopes. Examples of such mechanisms are guaranteed time due to international agreements or provision of instrumentation and bilateral national time exchanges between specific communities. Submission of similar proposals to national calls for the same instrument/project are strongly discouraged. The ORP process asks for technical support from each observatory and duplicated programmes will be severely disadvantaged. In such cases, please outline clearly why the proposals are different. Note that projects led by, or dominated by, non-EU persons are limited to 20% of the total allocations. In practice this means only a small number of such projects can be allocated and so such proposals must be exceptionally well justified. If in doubt, contact the ORP representative (details below) for clarification.

The maximum number of nights available at each facility is given in the table. It may be possible to move projects between telescopes to match scientific rating and demand. If your project can be done at more than one facility indicate in the technical case any alternate choices and note any technical issues such as changes in the time request which would result.

Please note that we adopt the following definitions and you should consider which facilities offer these options when defining your project:

Semester: This is the range of dates over which observations may be requested. It is not the same for each observatory.

Queue Scheduled: Weather and time dependent flexible scheduling to meet observing criteria specified by the user and scientific priority set by the observatory. Usually carried out by staff astronomers. Will not be attempted if specified conditions cannot be met and will not be carried over into future semesters.

Time Critical Observations: Predictable events which require special schedule constraints (eg. Planet transits, asteroid occultations, simultaneous observations with spacecraft)

Overrides: Observations which cannot be scheduled in advance but must be triggered by the PI of the proposal to take precedence over scheduled observing due to nature of a statistically likely but unpredictable event (eg. GRB, Supernova, Comet Outburst). Individual observatory policies may limit the number and frequencies of such triggers. Please check the observatory webpages for details noting that sometimes this mode is referred to by individual observatories as a Target of Opportunity (ToO).

Targets of Opportunity: Completely unexpected and unpredictable events of very high interest resulting from a specific discovery (eg A whole new class of object discovered in a survey, a radio signal or biomarker from an extrasolar planet, discovery of an object predicted to impact Earth). Almost by definition observing time for such projects cannot be scheduled in advance and would normally be allocated via a direct request from the PI to each observatory for director’s discretionary time. Such eventualities are almost impossible to accommodate within the ORP scheduling process. If you plan to request time for such a project, as distinct from the reasonably predictable overrides as defined above, please contact the TNA organiser (details below) first to discuss options and possible triggering scenarios on a case by case basis. For the moment, follow up of gravitational wave events are considered to be in this category as recent examples have been well covered via DDT and pre-existing national ToO/Time Domain Astronomy programmes.

Monitoring: Observations which require a regular cadence (eg SN decay, giant planet weather, comet activity variation with heliocentric distance) but which are not highly date/time specific. May be executed in ‘service mode’ to minimise PI travel.

Service Mode: Observations which are carried out by a local astronomer as part of a classically scheduled operations without flexibility for specific observing constraints. Also known as ‘Delegated visitor mode’. The PI is not expected to provide an observer.

Robotic: Automated telescope or network of telescopes using software to schedule and execute observations according to observatory schedule, weather and priority algorithms without direct human intervention on a nightly basis. Essentially automated queue scheduling without real-time human discretion.

Nights available at each Facility in semester 2023A

Facility	Nights/hours available	Semester	Queue Scheduled	Time critical observations (e.g. transits)	Overrides allowed?	Monitoring possible?
Nordic Optical Telescope (ORM, La Palma)	10 Nights	1 Apr 2023 - 30 Sept 2023	Only in scheduled service nights	Yes	Yes	Yes
Notes: Apart from regular visitor mode, the NOT offers (queue) service mode observing and provides a wide range of options for flexible scheduling through Target-of-Opportunity programs and/or monitoring programs on any time-scale (from hours to years). A complete overview of the instrumentation, with links to dedicated webpages can be found here: http://www.not.iac.es/instruments/instruments.html
Liverpool Telescope (ORM, La Palma)	50 Hours	1 Jan 2023 - 31 Aug 2023	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Notes: Robotic. Request in hours. RINGO3 has been decommissioned and replaced by the new MOPTOP polarimeter. RISE, IO;O and SPRAT also available.
TNG Galileo (ORM, La Palma)	10 Nights	1 Apr 2023 - 30 Sept 2023	No	Yes	Yes	Possible with severe limitations
Notes: Service and visitor modes, not queuing. Service time is scheduled on fixed nights so, e.g., seeing requirements do not apply. Objects included in the TNG Protected Target List cannot be requested. If the scheduling requires a time-sharing agreement with other groups (e.g., for a monitoring with HARPS-N), it must be agreed before submitting the proposal. Fractional nights can be requested in 1 hour blocks, assume 9hr per night. A long-term programme on the optical counterparts of gravitational wave events is already running at TNG. Therefore, proposals on this topic will not be accepted.
CAHA 2.2m (Calar Alto)	10 Nights	1 Jan 2023 - 30 June 2023	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Notes: CAFE, CAFOS and ASTRALUX are available.
CAHA 3.5m (Calar Alto)	10 Nights	1 Jan 2023 - 30 June 2023	Yes	Yes*	No	Yes*
Notes: *only possible with PMAS and CARMENES From the beginning of 2021 there will be three long-term Legacy programs at the 3.5m: CARMENES (detection, follow-up and characterization of planets around M dwarfs with radial velocities), KOBE (K-dwarfs orbited by habitable exo-planets) and CAVITY (Galaxies inhabiting the loneliest regions of the Universe). The agreements with CAHA protect these three science cases. So we suggest that researchers interested in similar scientific cases contact the observatory staff (coords@caha.es) before submitting their proposals, in order to ensure that there will be no conflict with the legacies. CARMENES, PMAS and Omega 2000 are available.
Anglo-Australian Telescope. (Siding Spring)	15	1 Feb 2023 - 31 July 2023	No	Yes	No	Yes
Notes: *Please contact the Observatory to discuss your plans before submitting a proposal for time-critical observations and monitoring. AAOmega will be out of action for 6 weeks in 2023A. As well as 'Veloce' at some point. This may make scheduling for e.g. transits difficult. Please refer to the Form for Visitors and Remote Observers for the latest updates on the local restrictions due to COVID. While COVID case numbers in Australia remain low by international standards, all observations have been carried out remotely since 2 June 2020. All OPTICON programmes will be scheduled following the usual procedures, and observations are expected to be carried out remotely. All OPTICON observers will be supported by local AAT support astronomers, and observers will be provided with all instructions after completing the Visitor's Form. Effective 01-Jul-2018, operation of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) transferred from the former Australian Astronomical Observatory to the university sector. The accompanying budget reduction means that though support astronomers will be available, observers may have less overall expert assistance on site than previously. Unsuccessful proposals will no longer be considered for general AAT Open Time. Unsuccessful applicants may however request AAT Paid Time; paid time enquiries are welcome at Astronomy Australia Limited. Current instrument availability is listed on the AAT instrument status page. Proposers should review important information for applicants on the "Applying for Observing Time" page after the normal AAT Call for Proposals is released. Service Mode observations are no longer offered.
Telescope Bernard Lyot (Pic du Midi)	80h = 10N	1 Mar 2023 - 31 Aug 2023	based on TAC priority	Yes	Possible (min 24hr notice)	Yes
Notes: Note that all 2023A applications to TBL from non-French astronomers must be made via this ORP call and not via the national French process.
Observatoire de Haut Provence 1.93m	10 Nights	1 Mar 2023 - 31 Aug 2023	No	Yes	No	Yes
Notes: Note that all 2023A applications to OHP from non-French astronomers must be made via this ORP call and not via the national French process. A Low-Res (SPRAT design) spectrograph, MISTRAL is now available in visitor mode. SOPHIE spectrograph imaging CCD will be updated from mid-October until end of November 2023 and will not be available on T193 telescope during this period.
Canada France Hawaii Telescope	4 Nights	1 Feb 2023 - 31st July 2023	Yes	Possible for high priority proposals	Yes	Yes subject to instrument availability
Notes: NO visitor mode. Queue scheduled only. Please pay particular attention to overheads. MegaCam delivers 5.0hrs/night, WIRCAM 5hr/night, Espadons 7.5 hrs/night and SITELLE 6.5 hours per night. Useful information on heavily subscribed RA ranges and other scheduling factors etc can be found here. SPIRou is now available with 7 hours per night.
Carlos Sanchez Telescope (Obs del Teide, Tenerife)	14	1 Jan 2023 - 1 June 2023	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Notes: Visitor, service or remote observing modes available.
Aristarchos Telescope (Helmos Observatory, Greece)	20	1 Jan 2023 - 31 March 2023	Welcome	Yes	Possible but difficult	Possible but difficult
Notes: The direct imaging CCD camera and the RISE2 wide-field fast imager will be available for this call.
Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO)	400 (hours)	1 Feb 2023 - 31 July 2023	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Notes: Robotic. Request in hours. The ORP contract is for time on the LCO 1m network. Time on the 1m network may be exchanged for 0.4m network time at a ratio of 1:2. 2m time is not offered. The new NRES high resolution spectrograph will be available. 1.0m - SINISTRO Imaging, NRES Spectroscopy 0.4m - SBIG Imaging
REM (La Silla, Chile)	300 (hours)	1 Apr 2023 - 30 Sept 2023	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Notes: Robotic. Request in hours. Observations are robotically scheduled, but time constraints and repetition rates can be inserted. Please see www.rem.inaf.it REM can observe simultaneously in the bands g, r, i, z, (visible) plus one infrared chosen among (z', J, H, Ks). A long-term programme on the optical counterparts of gravitational wave events is already running at REM. Therefore, proposals on this topic will not be accepted.
SALT	50 (hours)	1 Nov 2022 - 30 April 2023	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Notes: Only service observing. Limited pointing envelope due to telescope design. Phase 2 (observing definition) forms will be required from successful applicants. Only queue-scheduled service mode. Please read their latest Call for Proposals document and use the SALT visibility calculator and the instrument simulators (all of which can be found at https://astronomers.salt.ac.za/software/) to ensure you fully understand the telescope and its pointing envelope and calculate the overheads correctly. Please include in the technical justification a detailed explanation of the signal-to-noise requirements and how the overheads have been calculated. Please also discuss extra constraints, such as waiting period between observations, time restrictions, weather and Moon requirements etc. in your technical justification. Phase 2 observing forms will be required from successful applicants. IFU-fed NIR spectrograph is not available this semester.

Unless noted above, any instrument available to national users of an observatory may be requested. Please consult each observatory web-page for instrument details and policies.

Requests for multiple telescopes for the same scientific project must be included in a single proposal form. Request for projects with different scientific objectives should be made on separate proposal forms.

Please do not request long term status. Individual telescopes commit time to the observing pool on a semester by semester basis. We cannot assign 'long term' status as the projects does not know for certain if sufficient nights on your telescope of choice will be available in future semesters. So please make a single semester proposal and make a note in the text that you will be re-applying in the future with a similar project.

Since the ORP Trans-National Access programme is limited by the EC funds available, it is possible that not all of these nights will be allocated at every facility.

Projects must be scientifically competitive and will be ranked based on scientific merit and technical feasibility by a special international time allocation committee. The ORP team will attempt to schedule nights allocated by this committee subject to practical constraints on telescope and instrument availability. Due regard will be given to EC criteria regarding new users and users without similar national infrastructures. The oversubscription factor varies considerably between facilities and semesters but, as a guide, on average ~33% of proposals in recent rounds have been awarded time.

ORP facility users must ensure that all efforts are made to publish any resulting scientific publications, including data, in accordance with H2020 Open Access Guidelines as stipulated in the Grant Agreement.

Successful proposers will receive travel funds as necessary for them to take up the observing time. This will normally be for a single observer. If travel support for more than one observer is required for clearly demonstrated scientific reasons it will be necessary to get confirmation from the Optical Transnational Access Lead (details below). Please also see the section on Trans-National Access on our Rules for Travel page.

For downstream processing by the individual observatories, successful proposers may be required to complete and submit either Phase 1 (application forms) or Phase 2 (detailed observing request) forms. In this situation the science case will not be re-evaluated. The forms will be used to extract practical information required for the observatory proposal reporting and scheduling databases.

Facilities not in this list are not offering EU supported observing in this semester, even though they may have done so in the past and may do in the future. Some facilities have policies which allow international users to apply via their regular national proposal process or to specific international time which is not part of the ORP pool. Proposals made to and approved via non-ORP mechanisms will not qualify for travel grant support. Note that the results of the ORP TAC review will be communicated to the national TACs to avoid undesirable duplication.

Large target lists can be uploaded as a suitably formatted file. In the case of large projects, or those with a large list of possible targets from which only a subset will be observed, upload only a sample of representative targets.

For general questions about the call, registering with NORTHSTAR and policies, rules and procedures look in our FAQ page and if this does not help you then contact the Project Scientist (details below).

For specific practical information about telescopes/instruments, please contact the local observatory team directly.

Good luck

John Davies (john.davies@stfc.ac.uk) and Dan Dicken (daniel.dicken@stfc.ac.uk)

Optical Transnational Access Leads