Phase I Proposals

Annual Observing Cycles

Proposals for new regular programs and for continuation of long-term programs can be submitted according to the schedule below. P.I.s who have received long-term status have to submit a brief progress report in order to get time for the continuation of their program in future cycles. All proposals should be submitted after the call proposals for a specific cycle has been issue, unless special arrangements have been made.

Long-term status requests can be made only in the first proposal cycle of each observing year (October deadline). Even requests for long-term status only in the 2nd and 3rd trimester should be made by the October deadline. Long-term proposals should indicate clearly the number of trimesters for which long-term status is needed (up to 3 trimesters) and the request for long-term status should be justified carefully in the same section. The detailed policy on long-term status programs is available on the PSU local-access HET page (direct link to long-term policy). All proposers are advised to read this before submitting a request for long-term status.

Instruments and Planning Tools

The LRS and HRS are for general use, as well as the MRS in its direct feed mode (object and sky fibers). The long-slit mode of the MRS is also available but on a shared risk basis. The overhead for target acquisition and other tasks is 10 minutes per visit for the MRS and HRS and 14 minutes per visit for the LRS. The most up-to-date and authoritative information on instrument performance is available at the HET Observing Support web site (under "HET Overview"). Please note that special calibrations (e.g., dedicated flats) cost extra time, which should be included in your request, in one of the following ways:

• Note it in the description of observations and add the extra overhead to the total time request on the cover page. By doing so, the total time request on the cover page will not agree with the time accounting on the last page, but this is OK as long as it is explained in the description of observations.
• For every exposure where a dedicated set of flats is required, add a set of flats explicitly as a separate entry in the Exposure Table and assign them an exposure time of 0. This way an additional 14 minutes of overhead are counted automatically.

The HET night operations staff have produced few new Phase I planning tools and tips which can be found at the HET Observing Support web site. The Observability and Feasibility Calculator available at this page gives the accurate track length based on object's DEC. Another tool gives the time of the year an object can be observed given an R.A. and Dec. A third tool gives the specific UT times that a target can be observed including twilight, moon and exposure time constraints.

Phase I Submission Instructions 

To submit a phase I proposal, you must

• Download the latest forms and style files at the links given below. Fill out the LaTeX file, run LaTeX to produce a PDF document (postscript files are not accepted). Please take extra care when filling out the LaTeX form and follow the instructions carefully. The LaTeX files you submit are read automatically by computer programs, so mistakes can cause errors and aggravation. If there are errors in the forms, the proposers will be asked to resubmit within 24 hours of receiving the notice.

• Name your file using your user name, followed by an underscore and a number, i.e., rbc_1.tex, rbc_1.ps, rbc_2.tex, rbc_2.pdf, etc. Please include an underscore and a number even if you are submitting only one proposal. Copy both the LaTeX and PDF files into the directory /astro/faculty/proposals/HET/incoming. This directory should be accessible to all users regardless of operating system (Mac OSX, LINUX, UNIX/Solaris). Please submit the final PDF file and the original LaTeX file only; individual postscript figures in separate files are not needed.

• After copying your file to this location, please adjust the permission to give read access to the entire group. The UNIX command is:

  chmod g+r /astro/faculty/proposals/HET/incoming/filename

  Unfortunately, you cannot use wildcards for the filename, you will have to issue this command separately for each file that you deposit. If the chmod command executes without errors, that also implies that your original file was deposited properly (this is the only verification that you will have; you will not be able to see the files). This is an essential step. if your files are not accessible, it is as if you did not submit them.

Proposal Forms

The links below will get you the LaTeX forms and the universal style file (to download the files you may have to hold down <shift> when you click). There are two types of forms: request forms for new proposals and progress report forms for programs that have already received long-term status (the P.I.s of long-term status programs are required to submit a short progress report every trimester). Sample black forms in PDF files are also provided. All instructions have been collected into a separate, 2-page document, which is available as a PDF file.

These forms are also available locally at: /astro/faculty/proposals/HET/forms

Always make sure that you have the latest proposal forms and style files. The latest versions of the style file and proposal forms are dated 10/04/2008.