How to Propose

Full details on the proposal procedure, etc., can be found at;
http://www.naic.edu/~astro/proposals/proposal.htm.

In short, a proposal is composed of:

• a cover sheet containing, among other information, the proposal title, abstract, author contact information, time request, required instrument specifications, RFI considerations, and object(s) to be observed. The proposal cover-sheet is submitted most simply via a web-based form to be found at,
  http://www.naic.edu/~astro/proposals/cover.html, and the use of which we most strongly encourage. Full details of the submission procedure will also be found at this web address.
• A scientific and technical justification submitted separately to the cover sheet as a postscript file via e-mail, or as a mailed hardcopy.

Following the submission of a proposal, the Observatory will notify the proposers that the proposal has been received and specify an identification number. Astronomy proposals will be sent on to four anonymous referees (not NAIC staff, but with different referees for pulsar and non-pulsar astronomy). The recommendations of the referees serve to guide the Arecibo Scheduling Advisory Committee (ASAC) in respect of time allocation and relative ranking of all proposals. The ASAC meets as soon as the referees' grades and comments have all been received. Subsequently, proposers will be notified of the outcome for their project. Referee comments and grades are made available to proposers at this time, as is the ranking allocated by ASAC. These rankings (with explanations) are as follows:

A:

It is intended to schedule the proposal, which will remain active until this happens. Resubmission is not needed even if scheduling takes more than the usual 8 months.

B:

The proposal will be scheduled only if time is available. The proposer will have to resubmit the proposal (or a revised version) if not scheduled within the appropriate 8 months.

C:

The proposal is unlikely to be scheduled. The proposer is invited to submit a revised version.

The scheduler (Hector Hernandez) will now prepare the telescope schedule for the coming months, guided by the deliberations of ASAC. It should be emphasized that because of the special requirements of the different research areas which use the telescope, and the semi-transit nature of the instrument, scheduling is a difficult task requiring interaction with proposers and the flexibility to accommodate what are often conflicting demands. Therefore, it is not always possible to schedule in a ``linear'' fashion strictly following priorities, nor is it possible to schedule everything four months in advance. Depending on circumstances, some proposals will take longer to be placed on the schedule than others.