Applying for time at NOTGeneral RulesThe Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) is a facility intended for astronomical research, where the main objective is to provide direct access to researchers at Nordic partner institutes.It has, nevertheless, been a long-standing policy at the NOT to accept observing proposals from anyone, regardless of nationality, affiliation, or status. Thus, historically, projects by non-Nordic P.I.s typically received 10-12% of the Nordic observing time in open competition after peer review by the NOT Observing Programmes Committee (OPC). In more recent years, however, the demand from external European groups without competitive instrumentation has risen to the point where 'foreign' time at the NOT far exceeded the share available to any of the sponsoring countries, with little return of such favours for Nordic astronomers. Hence, the NOT Council has decided to limit outside access to the NOT to 15% of the total science time, excluding Spanish time and ITP time, that are governed by agreements, and excluding technical time. As stipulated by the NOT Charter, a contribution to the operations of the telescope will be required from the users. For Partners, this is normally done directly by their funding agencies, and the share of observing time for each Partner is proportional to the contributions from each Partner. However, for any non-partner programs mentioned above, the time will be charged for to support the operations. A description of the general rules for the allocation of observing time, and user contributions can be found here ; see, in particular, section 7.1.2 therein for costs related to observing time. See also more details below in the Section 'Who can apply'." Trans-National Access ProgrammesThere are currently no (EU) trans-national access programmes through which observing time at NOT can be applied for. For P71 some ChETEC-INFRA have been submitted, and the corresponding dead-line has passed.Spanish and ITP accessAccording to the agreement between NOT and IAC, 20% of the observing nights are reserved for Spanish use. The IAC organises two application rounds per year.Another 5% of the observing nights are reserved for the CCI's International Time Program. The International Scientific Committee organises one application round per year.
'Fast-track' Observing Proposals for short programmesAny proposal for a programme requiring up to 4 hours of observing time in service mode and with standard instrumentation can be submitted at any time through the 'Fast-Track Service Programme'.
Regular Nordic Observing Proposals
Who can apply?
How do I apply for observing time at NOT?Applications for observation time at NOT must be prepared and submitted electronically using the Latex proposal package for the period applied for (proposal template, style file, and README file). The updated proposal files will be available 4-6 weeks before each proposal deadline, and are included under the 'latest call' link below.NB: The competition for observing time at the NOT is very keen, and our small OPC cannot contain experts in all fields of astronomy. Therefore, it is CRUCIAL that proposals outline CLEARLY the scientific background and context of the proposed project, and also explain CLEARLY what contribution the planned observations will make to advancing our understanding of the field in question! As a more practical matter, note that proposals will only be accepted if prepared with the appropriate NOTFORM style macros and submitted to proposal@not.iac.es, a special mail-only account reserved for processing observing proposals. Please specify "Proposal" as the Subject when submitting a proposal, and "Question" in case of any preparatory inquiries.
Current Call for Nordic Proposals
Deadlines
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