How to Request APO 3.5-m Telescope Time at UW

Last update: 8/2006

Applications for APO time are accepted quarterly from UW faculty, staff, and graduate students who are appropriately trained observers or observers going to APO for training. (An affiliation with UW Astronomy is not a requirement.) Proposals are prioritized by a local "Time Assignment Committee" (TAC) for their scientific merit, career impact, and feasiblity.
  The TAC is comprised of two faculty, a postdoc, and a grad sutdent from the UW Astronomy Department. Its membership 'rotates'. The current chair of the UW TAC is Suzanne Hawley.

Deadlines: APO time is scheduled quarterly. An email annuouncement is circulated in advance. Unless announced otherwise, APO proposals are due about 6 weeks before the beginning of each quarter:

  • Nov 20 for the Jan-Mar quarter
  • Feb 20 for the Apr-Jun quarter,
  • May 20 for the Jul-Sep quarter (limited time is available owing to summer shutdown and monsoon weather),
  • Aug 20 for the Oct-Dec quarter.

    What to submit and how to submit it:

  • a cover page sent as plain text email to slh (no attachments or formatted text please; please delete all of the lower-case instructions from the cover page)
  • four stapled paper copies of the same cover page plus a 1-2-page narrative with any figures and references placed in Suzanne's mailbox by the deadline

    The cover page and instructions (version Aug 2006) are copied below. Please copy and paste them into your text editor. 
    
INSTITUTIONAL ID NUMBER:  (leave this blank)

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: 

PI: (you)

OBSERVER(S): (people who are trained APO observers)

UNCERTIFIED/UNTRAINED OBSERVERS: (people who haven't been to APO)

COLLABORATORS: (people from other institutions)
 
CONTACT INFORMATION: (PI/OBSERVER email, phone)

HALF NIGHTS OR HOURS REQUESTED: (notice this is in HALF NIGHTS!!!!)
Dark- 
Grey- 
Bright- 

INSTRUMENT: 

PRIMARY DIS GRATING: 

SECONDARY DIS GRATING (IF REQUIRED):

SLITS/FILTERS/ETC NEEDED: 

OBSERVING MODE: (remote or on-site)

OBSERVING SCHEDULE CONSTRAINTS:  (e.g. want full nights instead of half nights,
must have March 10 because of simultaneous satellite observations, etc.)

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:  (e.g. nights you can't observe)

SPECIAL PROTECTION JUSTIFICATION:  (e.g. you can't bump this observation for
engineering, etc. because it is vital that it be done... - note, this is
usually left blank.)

BRIEF SCIENCE JUSTIFICATION:  (this is an abstract, not to be confused
with the 1-2 page science justification required for the proposal)

REFERENCES: (list any papers using APO data, not necessarily for this project)
    Proposals are reviewed and prioritized by the UW TAC promptly and then merged with proposals forwarded from partner members for preparing the schedule. Announcement of the quarterly APO schedule is made as soon as possible and distributed to all proposers by email.

    Information on APO and its instrumentation can be found at
    APO 3.5-m Telescope & Instrument Manuals


     
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