Proposals for IRAM Telescopes

The deadline for submission of observing proposals on IRAM telescopes, both the interferometer and the 30m, is

September 18, 2008 17:00 MEST (UT+2h)

The scheduling period extends from December 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009. Proposals should be submitted through our web-based submission facility. Instructions can be found on our web page at URL:

http://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/
submission/submission.html

Detailed information on time estimates, special observing modes, technical information and references for both the IRAM interferometer and the IRAM 30m telescope can be found on the above mentioned web page. The submission facility will be opened about three weeks before the proposal deadline. Proposal form pages and the 30m time estimator are available now.

Please avoid last minute submissions when the network could be congested. As an insurance against network congestion or failure, we still accept, in well justified cases, proposals submitted by:

• fax to number: (+33) 476 42 54 69 or by
• ordinary mail addressed to:
  IRAM Scientific Secretariat,
  300 rue de la Piscine,
  F-38406 St. Martin d'Hères, France

Proposals sent by e-mail are not accepted. Color plots will be printed/copied in grey scale. If color is considered essential for the understanding of a specific figure, a respective remark should be added in the figure caption. The color version may then be consulted in the electronic proposal by the referees.

Soon after the deadline the IRAM Scientific Secretariat sends an acknowledgement of receipt to the Principal Investigator of each proposal correctly received, together with the proposal registration number. Note that the web facility allows cancelation and modification of proposals before the deadline. The facility also allows to view the proposal in its final form as it appears after re-compilation at IRAM. We urge proposers to make use of this feature as we always receive a number of corrupted proposals (figures missing, blank pages, etc.).

Valid proposals contain the official cover page, up to two pages of text describing the scientific aims, and up to two more pages of figures, tables, and references. The normal proposals should not exceed these 5 pages. Except for the technical pages for the interferometer, longer proposals will be cut. The new Large Observing Programmes (see the announcement by P. Cox elsewhere in this Newsletter) have up to 4 pages for the scientific justification, plus cover page and 2 pages for supporting material.

The proposal template proposal.tex and the L^ATEX style file proposal.sty may be obtained from the IRAM web pages¹ at URL ../GENERAL/submission/proposal.html. In case of problems, contact the secretary, Fabienne Schicke, (e-mail: berjaud$@$iram.fr). Please, make sure that your proposals use the current form pages.

In all cases, indicate on the proposal cover page whether your proposal is (or is not) a resubmission of a previously rejected proposal or a continuation of a previously accepted interferometer or 30m proposal. We request that the proposers describe very briefly in the introductory paragraph (automatically generated header ``Proposal history: '') why the proposal is being resubmitted (e.g. improved scientific justification) or is proposed to be continued (e.g. last observations suffered from bad weather).

Do not use characters smaller than 11pt. This could render your proposal illegible when copied or faxed. If we notice any formal problems before the deadline, we will make an effort to contact the principal investigator and solve the problem together.

Applications for short spacing observations have been simplified. If the need for complementary 30m observations is evident already at the time when the PdB interferometer proposal is prepared, just note this need on the interferometer proposal. A separate proposal for the 30m telescope is not required. The blank form for interferometer proposals contains a bullet, labelled ``short spacings'' which should then be checked. The interferometer style file will prompt for an additional paragraph in which the scientific need for the short spacings should be described. It is essential to give here all observational details, including size of map, sampling density and rms noise, spectral resolution, receiver configuration and time requested.

A mailing list has been set up for astronomers interested in being notified about the availability of a new Call for Proposals. Our web-based mailing list management facility can be found under the URL (http://www.iram.fr/mailman/listinfo/). The ``Call for Proposals'' list presently contains all users of IRAM telescopes during the last 2 years; you can subscribe or unsubscribe as you see fit.

J.M. WINTERS & C. THUM