Call For Proposals (2008)
From TelescopeNets
The call for proposals is now closed (http://www.telescope-networks.org/cfp/cgi-bin/application.cgi).
The following proposals were successful.
- Andrew Drake et al. (Caltech): "Follow-up of short timescale optical transients"
- Jenny Patience (Exeter) and Eric Saunders (LCOGT): "Photometric monitoring of the pre-main sequence binaries - a test of disk accretion models"
The following proposal is recommended by the TAC, subject to specific infrastructure requirements being put in place.
- Tim Naylor, Alasdair Allan (Exeter) and Eric Saunders (LCOGT): "Aperiodic variability in classical T Tauri stars"
Between them, these proposals have been allocated 50 hours of scheduled time split between the Faulkes North and Faulkes South telescopes, 10 hours of on-sky time on the Liverpool Telescope and 10 hours of on-sky time on MONET/North. Additionally, 2hrs of target of opportunity override time have been allocated to the Drake proposal.
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What can the HTN do?
By providing a common interface and observation submission mechanism, member projects of the HTN are able to connect their telescopes into a network that allows observers to take advantage of multiple observing sites and disparate instrumentation. A good example is period searching, where HTN observations can be ideally spaced, unfettered by the arbitrary constraints of a classically scheduled run length or a site at a single longitude. This is an ideal science problem for a telescope network distributed in longitude because of the ability to supress diurnal aliasing effects.
Another important capability is the ability to request data, examine it, and then make reactive followup decisions based on the observations so far. By encoding the evaluation process in autonomous software, efficient adaptive observing programmes can be created.
How does it do it?
In this first call we are operating in a shared risk mode, and how the programme is managed on a day to day basis will depend on the programme (or programmes) selected by the TAC. It is likely however that the chosen programme will be managed by the eSTAR (http://www.estar.org.uk/) project, which allows proposers to make use of the autonomous capabilities provided by them.
This means that your programme will likely be driven by an autonomous piece of software, and that in specifying your programme you need only concern yourself with the high level science problems. Day to day scheduling will be handled in software. Additionally you may construct the programme in such a way that analysis is done in real time on your data as it comes off the telescope, and decisions are made on the basis of this, leading to further observations or a change in the observational plan. It should be noted that if extensive, or non-standard, analysis is needed you may need to work with us to provide this capability so that your science can be carried out.
Conditions
Submissions may be made by way of the submission page (http://www.telescope-networks.org/cfp/cgi-bin/application.cgi) until the 25th July 2008. Proposals may not perform the same programme as one that has already been awarded time through the TAC process on any participating telescope, unless the PI of that programme agrees. More than one proposal may be submitted. Each proposal will be assessed by the HTN working group in late July according to three principal criteria:
- i) How scientifically interesting it is
- ii) How much it utilises the HTN concept
- iii) How hard it is to implement
A team of astronomers and software developers will work to implement any additional infrastructure required for to enable the HTN to successfully carry out the winning observing programme(s).
The proposers will have sole rights over the data for a proprietary period of 1 year from the date of the first submitted observation. However, we would expect up to four authors from the HTN consortium to be co-authors, depending on contribution.
Time
Las Cumbres Observatory (http://www.lcogt.net) will provide 50 hours of scheduled time split over the two 2 metre class Faulkes Telescopes, FTN on Maui, Hawaii and FTS in Siding Spring, Australia. Note that this is not guaranteed on-sky time, but rather time scheduled on a best effort basis.
The ARI (http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/) will donate 10 hours of on-sky time on the Liverpool Telescope (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/) on La Palma, in the Canary Islands.
The MONET project (http://monet.uni-goettingen.de) will donate 10 hours of on-sky time on MONET North, located at Mt. Locke, Texas.
The combined available time can be used either serially or simultaneously, or in both fashions. Any combination of the available instrumentation can be used. For instance the time could be used to follow a target around the Earth as it rises and sets. Or it could be triggered via an event message to take initial follow-up, and after a first-cut autonomous analysis of the results, carry out further follow-up perhaps at a different facility using a different type of instrument. All the time can be used upfront, or spaced throughout the year. The point of the call is to make use of the flexibility provided up both the distributed network of telescopes and the autonomous software driving the network.
It should be noted that while you may apply for all of the available time, applications for smaller projects will also be warmly welcomed.
The Telescopes
Faulkes North and South
Faulkes North (http://lcogt.net/telescopes/ftn) and South (http://lcogt.net/telescopes/fts) are twin 2 metre robotic telescopes based on the Liverpool Telescope design. Faulkes North on Maui, Hawaii has the 4.75 arcminute Merope optical camera, which has 21 filter slots, including H_alpha, Bessell BVRI and SDSS u', g', r' and i'. Faulkes South, in Siding Spring, Australia currently has the Hawkcam optical camera, which supports Bessell BVR, H_alpha and SDSS u' and i'.
Liverpool Telescope
The LT is a 2m class fully robotic telescope. Instrumentation includes RATCam (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/RATCam/index.php), a 4.6 square arcminute optical camera with 8 filters, SupIRCam (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/SupIRCam/index.php), an infrared array, and RINGO (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/RINGO/index.php), an optical polarimeter. Many more details, including full instrument descriptions (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/) and an exposure time calculator (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk/Info/TelInst/Inst/calc/), can be found on the Liverpool Telescope website (http://telescope.livjm.ac.uk).
MONET North
MONET North (http://monet.uni-goettingen.de) is a 1.2 m optical telescope sited at the McDonald Observatory, Texas. It has f/7 optics, a 1kx1k CCD with 11 arcminute field of view for 13.5 micron pixels, and Bessell UBVRI, Sloan g', r', and H_alpha filters.
Event Network
The HTN has developed in parallel with the IVOA's VOEvent Working Group (http://www.ivoa.net/twiki/bin/view/IVOA/IvoaVOEvent). While the VOEvent standard is designed to transport timely information about transient events, the HTN protocols and standards are designed to negotiate for and carry out observing requests. Both for long term monitoring and in response to such notifications.
Because of the close collaborations (http://www.estar.org.uk/wiki/index.php/VOEvent) already in place, utilisation of the existing event network, or enhancements or additions to it, could form part of any proposal submitted in response to the call.