Dear All,
it seems that ZOOM services for setting up and conducting virtual
meetings gain more and more supporters (more stable, more convenient)
than the so far by HESS (mostly) used VIBE service. Therefore,
discussions on a possible switch from VIBE/eZuce to ZOOM as a video
conference tool for the entire HESS Collaboration have started. As an
input for this discussion it would be useful to find out from you
whether ....
..... you are able/allowed to use ZOOM as a tool for video conferences
at your institute/university?
..... your institute/university provides you with professional licenses?
..... you have a preference for VIBE or ZOOM if you would have the choice?
Please let me know as soon as possible.
All the best,
Anita
Dear All,
for your info.
All the best,
Anita
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: AsrtoSat - Announcement of Opportuntiy : A10 Cycle
Date: Fri, 29 May 2020 11:51:28 +0000 (UTC)
From: apps(a)issdc.gov.in
Dear All,
ISRO has established AstroSat as an astronomical observatory and over the
last few years, has periodically released announcements of opportunity (AO)
calls, soliciting proposals from national and international Astronomy
community to observe using AstroSat instruments.
This announcement of AO cycle 10 (AO10) is planned to begin from Oct
01,2020 to Sept 30th 2021. The full AO is available at
https://www.isro.gov.in/announcement-of-opportunity-ao-soliciting-proposals…
NOTE: We have introduced a new proposal type "AstroSat Long Term Key
Proposals (ALTKP)" from this year. The full details of the same are
available as an annexure I (page 13) of the full AO whose link is given
above.
The APPS will be opened for proposal submission from 08th June to 13th
July 2020 5:00pm IST. With this early announcement, proposers are
encouraged to initiate proposal planning at the earliest and ensure that
final submission gets completed within the above time window.
Proposers with queries on AstroSat, instruments and observation planning,
are strongly encouraged to have them addressed through the Astrosat Support
Cell operating at IUCAA, jointly supported by ISRO and UGC/MHRD
(http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in).
Instructions for submitting AstroSat proposal:
Proposers will need to use the AstroSat Proposal Processing System
(website: https://apps.issdc.gov.in/apps/auth/login.jsp) to create, prepare
and submit proposals. The AstroSat proposers guide available online at
http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in/?q=proposal_preparation provides a detailed
description of various steps in proposal preparation. A brief description
of these steps is given below.
1. Before preparing the proposal, decide on your target list. To start
with, check if any observations of your target(s) are available in the
AstroSat archives
(https://astrobrowse.issdc.gov.in/astro_archive/archive/Home.jsp). An
up-to-date list of observations carried out may be found using the AstroSat
Observation Finder tool
(http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in:8080/ObservationFinder/) and observation IDs
listed there may be used in the AstroSat Schedule Viewer
(https://webapps.issdc.gov.in/MCAP/) to obtain the details of the
instrument configuration used. Data from some of the observations carried
out may not have entered the archive yet, and some data in the archive may
not have been released publicly yet. Nevertheless if your science goals
are likely to be met by existing observations then the proposal will not
receive priority in time allocation. If you still need fresh observations
then a suitable justification must be provided in the proposal.
Once you are convinced about the need for new observations, ensure that
your targets can be observed with AstroSat as described below.
2. Ensure that the targets are visible to AstroSat for the A09 cycle
observing period (1 October 2020 - 30 September 2021). Proposers can
use the AstroSat visibility tool "astroviewer" available at
http://issdc.gov.in/astroviewer/index.html. Please examine the output
of this tool carefully to make sure that there is adequate visibility
during the cycle period. In case of any difficulty, proposers can also
use the simpler visibility tool "Avis"
(http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in:8080/AstroVisCal/) for a graphical
display of the visibility profile. If your science case (say
coordinated observations or specific orbital phase etc) requires time
constraints, then ensure that the time constraints are covered by the
visibility windows. Pleaae do not enter Time Constraints just to
reflect the source visibility - this is automatically taken into
account. Output in the pdf format from one of the visibility tool
will need to be uploaded in the APPS.
While using Astroviewer, please check the button "Generate plot" to
generate plots. The last plot generated gives the visibility of the
target. Please attach this plot to the astroviewer output before
submission.
3. If you want to observe with UVIT, it is mandatory to establish a
safety check as described in the mandatory safety-check document
available at ASSC
(http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in/uploads/APPS/Guidelines_for_proposal_submissio…).
First, find the safe FUV filters for your target using the online tool
available at UVIT POC website (http://uvit.iiap.res.in/Software/gaia/).
Save the output by printing in the pdf format. It is necessary to use VIS
channel for tracking if you are using FUV channel. If FUV is safe for your
target, find the safe VIS filter(s) using the online tool at UVIT POC
website http://uvit.iiap.res.in/Software/theia/. The pdf outputs of FUV and
VIS filter check tools should be merged and uploaded in APPS as the "UVIT
Bright Source list". FUV gratings can be used when the count rate in FUV
CaF2 filter is less than 892 in the full window of 512x512 pixels, please
check the output obtained from the run of the UV filter check tool.
Proposers also need to check for scattered light from nearby ultra-bright
sources as described in the mandatory safety-check document. If your target
is within +/-30 degrees of Galactic latitude and no Galex images are
available, you will need to first establish the safety by proposing a UVIT
safety check ToO proposal. Please see the AstroSat Proposers Guide for more
details.
4. For observations with LAXPC, the source should be fainter than 2 Crab.
SXT data will be severely piled-up if there is a very bright optical source
with V magnitude less than about 4 magnitude (see AstroSat Handbook
available at ASSC website).
5. Estimate exposure time, count rates and signal-to-noise etc. using the
online exposure time calculators: UVIT
(https://uvit.iiap.res.in/Software/etc), X-ray instruments
(http://astrosat-ssc.iucaa.in:8080/WebPIMMS_ASTRO/index.jsp) or Spectral
simulation tools such as XSPEC, Sherpa, ISIS. Perform scientific
feasibility study with simulations as needed.
6. Prepare scientific and technical justification pdf files using Latex
templates available at the ASSC website and following the instructions
given in the latex templates. Proposals are evaluated based on the
importance of science, choice of targets, justification of exposure time,
technical and scientific feasibility. Hence these sections need to be
carefully prepared. The scientific feasibility should be established based
on spectral/timing simulations, signal-to-noise calculations, surface
brightness above the background for the study of diffuse UV sources, etc.
as per the case may be.
7. Login to APPS and create a proposal for A10 cycle. Select one of
the proposal types Regular pointing, Monitoring or Anticipated ToO
proposals as per the requirement.
8. Fill the mandatory fields such as the title, abstract,
investigators, scientific category etc.
9. In the "Target list and Instrument configuration page", add target(s).
Use target names recognized by NED/Simbad if available. Enter source size,
V magnitude and 2-10 keV flux. In the instrument configuration page, choose
a primary instrument which is most critical for your science case.
Configure the instruments for each target considering the safety of the
instruments. Please note that there are offsets up to several arc minutes
in the pointing directions of different instruments. Choosing one
instrument as primary may render the observations in other instruments
somewhat sub-optimal. If a restricted window size is chosen for an
instrument (for example, SXT FW mode) then that instrument must be made
primary, otherwise the target may fall outside the observing window.
10. Upload the technical and science justification pdf files. For each
target, upload the AstroSat visibility information either from astroviewer
or Avis tool as the Astroviewer Output file and merged VIS/UV filter check
pdf output as UVIT BSC.
11. Check and verify pdf copy of the proposal cover page and the
attachments, edit the proposal if needed, and recheck and submit.
Thanks & Regards
AstroSat Team at ISRO
