Special call for GTC, INT, Mercator, and Stella proposals – semester 2023B

This is a special call for GTC, INT, Mercator, and Stella proposals for Spanish CAT night observing time in semester 2023B.  Proposal submission deadline is Friday, June 16th, 2023, at 22:59 h Canarian time or 23:59 h CEST for the INT, Mercator and Stella, and Monday, June 26th, 2023, at 22:59 h Canarian time or 23:59 h CEST for the GTC.

  • We recall that every proposal within the Spanish CAT scheme must be led by a principal investigator (PI) affiliated to an Institution in Spanish soil. 
  • Applicants must assume the following observing windows for this special call for proposals. 
    • GTC: 1 July 2023 – 29 February 2024
    • INT, Stella: 1 August 2023 – 31 January 2024
    • Mercator: 1 October 2023 – 31 March 2024
  • Available telescope time:
    • GTC: 120 h (visitor and/or queue mode). Due date for proposal submission: 26th June 2023, at 21: 59 UT.
    • INT: 23 n (visitor mode only). Due date for proposal submission: 16th June 2023, at 21: 59 UT.
    • Mercator: 13 nights (visitor mode only). Due date for proposal submission: 16th June 2023, at 21: 59 UT.
    • Stella-WiFSIP: 103.1 hours (queue mode). Due date for proposal submission: 16th June 2023, at 21: 59 UT.
    • Stella-SES: 116.6 hours (queue mode). Due date for proposal submission: 16th June 2023, at 21: 59 UT.
  • No large programs are offered in this special call for proposals.
  • To submit proposals, use the http://cat.iac.es tool by selecting “Spanish CAT (CATESP)” type. Please, be cautious when selecting the telescope(s) and instruments during the submission phase.

OFFERED INSTRUMENTS

GTC

The full text of the GTC special call for proposals is available here.

  • HiPERCAM is the only instrument offered in this special call for proposals. HiPERCAM is now installed at the Folded Cass G focal station. Proposals requesting any other instrument of GTC will not be accepted in this special call for proposals.
  • Target-of-opportunity (ToO) proposals are accepted (read carefully the ToO policy at GTC and as well as the GTC ToO page for further details). ToO proposals will be recommended with their corresponding priority whenever they fall in bands A and B of the ranked proposal list. ToO proposals in band C will not be approved. ToO proposals do not have carry-over status.
  • No large programs are accepted in this special call for proposals.
  • Typical HiPERCAM overheads are about 10 min per pointing.
  • For all approved proposals (bands A, B, C, and filler), GTC Phase 2 information must be submitted to the GTC before the 1st of July of 2023.
  • After publication of the GTC data, all PIs will be contacted by the CAB, CSIC-INTA, archive staff and invited to send their reduced data products for public release to the astronomical community through the GTC archive.
  • The Observatory announces that the R. A. ranges 0 – 2 h and 12 – 14 h are highly over-subscribed, whereas the R. A. interval 20 – 23 h and bright moon time are generally less demanded. Programs that can use bright moon time and/or have targets with R. A. between 20 and 23 h  will have higher probability of being executed at the telescope.
  • The Observatory encourages users to request Visitor Mode observations provided their programs benefit from this mode. The Observatory has successfully implemented a “flextime” mode intended to increase the efficiency of the visitor programs. Users interested in using this mode must declare it by ticking the “Visitor mode” button when filling in the electronic form of their proposal.
  • Starting in semester 2020B, Remote Visitor Mode is also supported at GTC. Users interested in using this mode must declare it by ticking the “Remote visitor mode” button when filling in the electronic form of their proposal.

PROTECTED OBJECTS. Due to the execution of Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) of various instrumental teams, all applicants are kindly requested to check the list of protected objects here (follow the links to the corresponding instrument). Protected objects cannot be proposed for observation by other users, unless an instrumental setup different to that of the GTO is required.

INT 

Detailed information provided by the ING Observatory can be found in the ING call for proposals. All potential applicants must become familiar with the series of changes in instrument availability and of observing time at the WHT and INT driven by the arrival of new survey instruments. The changes are summarized here. 

The main changes for 2023B are:

  • See the complete list of ING instruments here. Offered instruments are: 
  • Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for large time allocations within the semester.
  • Large programs (covering various semesters) are not offered in semester 2023B.
  • Users should be aware of the instrument changes that will take place in coming semesters for a proper preparation of their INT proposals.
  • In semester 2023B, the INT is expected to operate in normal visitor mode. Safety measures to address Covid-19 risks will be adjusted as the pandemic situation changes (see here). 
  • Inexperienced INT observers MUST be accompanied by an experienced observer. ‘Inexperienced’ here means unable, alone, to make efficient (and safe) use of the observing night, whether from general lack of observing experience, or from lack of experience with the specific techniques/instruments to be used. Observers will be responsible for all aspects of operation, from opening the dome in the evening and operating the telescope and instrumentation throughout the night to parking the telescope and closing the dome at the end of the night. 
  • The INT offers service mode observing (possible for some programs) through collaboration with the INT student support astronomers. Any additional costs incurred (residencia charges, etc.) will be borne by the PI. If interested in this service, read the ING call for proposals.

STELLA

The instruments WiFSIP and SES are offered.

The telescope control software has been upgraded to allow for non-sidereal (i.e., solar system objects) tracking.

Mercator Telescope

Offered instruments (HERMES) can be found at Mercator. Instrument MAIA is not offered in 2023B.
  • It is strongly recommended to request long runs and full nights since the Observatory will reduce the number of introduction due to limited local man/womanpower.
  • The low-resolution, high stability mode of HERMES is no longer available.
  • An upgrade of the wavelength calibration system of HERMES is foreseen in the period 2023-2024.
  • The high-resolution mode is more efficient, and a double mode in which the object’s spectrum is interleaved with a simultaneous ThArNe exposure is offered. The double mode is intended only for radial velocity work : the background cannot be corrected so if you are interested in the extracted 1D spectrum, you cannot use this mode.
  • The exposure time calculator on the web has been updated accordingly with respect to the efficiency of HERMES.
  • Large programs (covering various semesters) are not offered in semester 2023B.
  • A new guiding mode on the spectrographic telescope is introduced, which allows now guiding in close visual binaries separated by at least 3 arcsec (the spectrograph’s entrance pinhole diameter). This works for faint companions as well.
  • There is a remote observing system, although CAT observers may find it more useful to perform the observations at the Observatory.
  • 2022 was a very successful year for the Mercator telescope and 36 refereed publications were published based on Mercator data. A wide spread of stellar astrophysical themes are covered and, while HERMES is not in vacuum, also exoplanet science is performed. This can be appreciated on http://www.mercator.iac.es/publications/2022/. Please, let the team know if you have more publications based on Mercator data so that they can keep track of the science output of Mercator (by email to mercator@kuleuven.be or saskia.prins@kuleuven.be).

 

UPDATED on 4 June 2023

Contact: catiac at iac.es