Proposals for IRAM Telescopes

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

March 12th, 2009 17:00h CET (UT+1 hour)

The scheduling period extends from 01 June 2009 - 30 November 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 cancellation 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, one or more pages of technical information, up to two pages of text describing the scientific aims, and up to two more pages of figures, tables, and references. Normal proposals should not exceed 6 pages, except for additional technical pages. Longer proposals will be cut. We continue to call for Large Observing Programmes as described by P. Cox below. The Large Programmes may have up to 4 pages for the scientific justification, plus cover page, the technical pages, and 2 pages for supporting material.

Both proposal forms, for the 30m telescope and for the interferometer, have been changed considerably for the current deadline. In fact, we now have different template files for the two telescopes, prop-pdb.tex and prop-30m.tex. Please, make absolutely sure to use the current version of these files and the common L^ATEX style file proposal.sty. All three files may be downloaded from the IRAM web pages¹at URL http://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/submission/proposal.html. Do not change the font type or size, and do not manipulate the style file. In case of problems, contact the IRAM secretary. (e-mail: berjaud$@$iram.fr).

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).

Short spacing observations on the 30m telescope can now be requested directly on the interferometer proposal form. A separate proposal for the 30m telescope is not required. The interferometer proposal form contains a bullet, labelled ``short spacings'' which should then be checked. The user will be prompted to fill in 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. A link to this mailing list is on the IRAM web page. The list presently contains all users of IRAM telescopes during the last 2 years.

J.M. WINTERS & C. THUM