Instructions for completing the Observing Time Application Form

The Observing Time Application Web Form was prepared by SECOP, the National Laboratory for Astrophysics (LNA) Office for the Time Allocation Committees, Brazil. It must be used by all astronomers to apply for observing time at 

• the Observatório do Pico dos Dias (OPD) telescopes:

• 1.60m Perkin-Elmer,

• 0.60m Boller & Chivens (IAG), and

• 0.60m Zeiss;

• the SOAR 4.1-m telescope;

• the Blanco 4-m telescope (CTIO) through the Brazil/NOIRLab time exchange agreement, and

• to request archival data from PANEOS (OPD).

The text below provides a brief guide to help you complete the form, which must be filled in English. 

To access the time request forms, you must log in to our portal (or, upon first access, create an account in the system). To do so, click on the "Log In" button in the upper right corner in the following webpage:

https://obstime.lna.br/

Be sure your information (name, affiliation, email, etc.) is updated in the system.

You can logout of the system by clicking on "Log Out" on the top right corner, but be sure you saved the proposal before logging out (see details below).

INSTRUCTIONS

To start filling in the form, select the telescope in the menu at the top of the page. After clicking on the preferred telescope, two options will appear: "new proposal" and "edit proposal". The first option should be selected if you want to start writing a new proposal, while the second allows you to edit proposals you have previously started and saved. A window with the list of titles of the proposals will be opened once you click and you should select the one you want to edit. ONLY ONE PROPOSAL CAN BE EDITED AT A TIME.

The web form is composed of six sections. Only one appears when a new proposal is created. You need to add the basic proposal information and save the form to see the remaining sections.

Help on the most important fields of the form can be obtained by hovering the cursor over the field names.

Basic Info

In the first section, you must include the title and the abstract of your proposal, as well as select the observing mode and program type. Your name, current affiliation and contact information will be filled automatically from your account information. Please be sure they are all correct, otherwise edit your profile in the system (go to the homepage, select USER on the top menu and edit user information).

For SOAR only: a backup proposal is needed for astronomers that plan to apply for observing time in the remote/classical mode at SOAR with 

• SAM or 

• optimal observing conditions, i.e., seeing < 0.8" and cloud cover (sky transparency) < 10% (photometric). 

Otherwise, a backup proposal is not necessary.

Clicking the button "Create Proposal" at the end of the page will store the proposal in our database. Once this step is done, you may leave the editor at any time by pressing the button "Exit" at the end of the page and your proposal draft will be saved (but not submitted). You can come back and continue editing your proposal as many times as necessary before the deadline.

After saving the form for the first time, new fields will appear below.

Co-Authors and Affiliations

Insert the co-authors information. Click on "+New co-author" to enter each co-author or upload the list of co-authors in a file. A template for this list can be downloaded by clicking on the corresponding button. After the upload, check the final list to be sure the system loaded the information correctly.

If this proposal is associated with a thesis or dissertation, select the appropriate option in the drop down menu. In this case, include the student information.

Observations and Instrumentation

In this section, inform the amount of observation time requested, optimal and impossible dates, weather constraints and the instrument setups that will be used for acquiring the data.

Scientific Justification, Experimental Design, Technical Description, and Previous Missions and Results 

The Scientific Justification, the Experimental Design, the Technical Description, and the Previous Missions and Results must be included in the Observing Time Application Form as a PDF attachment. Word and Latex (with its associated style .sty file) templates are available. You must use one of them to generate a PDF file.

DO NOT REDUCE THE FONT SIZE OR MARGINS and do not otherwise fiddle with the template format to get more text on a page. The TAC WILL NOT CONSIDER proposals that do not follow our templates. 

For each of the sections Scientific Justification, Experimental Design, and Technical Description, the limits are as follows:

• For REGULAR, TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY (ToO), and DIRECTOR'S DISCRETIONARY TIME (DDT) proposals, each section must not exceed one page. Up to two pages may be added to the end of the proposal for tables and figures, if needed.

• For LARGE Program (LP) proposals, each section must not exceed two pages. Up to four pages may be added to the end of the proposal for tables and figures, if needed.

• References cited in the text can be listed in a specific section. The References section is not included in the limits above and can occupy additional pages.

Proposals that exceed any of the page limits above WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED by the TAC.

Instructions on the content of each section are also included in the template files.

Target List

In this section, you should provide the list of targets that will be observed. Both science targets and standard stars (if necessary) must be listed, along with their coordinates and magnitudes. You may also upload the target list as a file. A template for this list can be downloaded by clicking on the corresponding button. After the upload, check the final list to be sure the system read the file correctly.

Submission

The last section, "Submission", lists the last steps of the proposal submission process. Follow the steps indicated there. Be sure to review the final PDF of your complete proposal very carefully as this will be the proposal the TAC will evaluate. 

If multiple submissions of the same proposal are made, only the latest one that arrives within the deadline will be considered. You and all co-authors will receive a confirmation by e-mail after you submit the proposal. The email will include a copy of the complete proposal PDF.

LNA Support

If you have any questions regarding the form or the proposal submission process, please contact us at the following email address:

SOAR and Blanco: soar.secop@lna.br

OPD: opd.secop@lna.br 

For technical inquiries concerning the instrumentation available or the telescope, please contact us at the following email address:

SOAR and Blanco: soar.suporte@lna.br 

OPD: opd.suporte@lna.br