OPTICON: Call for Proposals

Within the OPTICON contract under FP7, its Trans-National Access programme will move towards even greater integration and coordination of the participating telescopes.

The call for observing time at night time telescopes supported by the OPTICON Trans-National Access is now open.

• The semester runs between 1 Sep 2010 and 28 Feb 2011
• Deadline : 1 March 2010 (1200 U)

• The PI and at least half of the Co-I’s must be working at Institutions outside the country/ies which own the telescope.
• Please also note the prohibition on projects which could be applied for by the PI using the national mechanisms open to them.
• The proposals for OPTICON time at all the telescopes will be reviewed together by a single international Time Allocation Committee (TAC). The results of the OPTICON TAC review will be communicated to the national TACs.

• The proposal software, a variant of the NORTHSTAR system already in use at several observatories, is available at the following url: http://proposal.astro-opticon.org.
• Projects must be scientifically competitive and will be ranked based on scientific merit and technical feasibility by a special OPTICON international time allocation committee.
• Successful proposers will receive travel funds as necessary for them to take up the observing time.