The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
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Proposing for Telescope Time

To apply for CfA telescope time, the CfA must be your primary affiliation and you must be resident at a CfA facility. (Working from home counts as residence.)  In-coming postdocs may apply if they will be in residence during the semester. CfA staff on leave or sabbatical may also apply for time.

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PROPOSALS ARE DUE at NOON Eastern Time (EST or EDT) on the 2nd Tuesday of April and October, as follows:

Due Datefor TelescopeSemester
April 9, 2024MagellanB (July 13 - Jan 6)
April 9, 2024MMT + FLWOB (mid Aug1 - Jan 31)
Oct 8, 2024MagellanA (Jan 7 - Jul 15)
Oct 8, 2024MMT + FLWOA (Feb 1 - mid July1)

 

 

 

1The exact dates of MMT+FLWO summer shutdown vary.

 

PROPOSALS

  • SUBMIT USING OUR PROPOSAL SYSTEM https://tdcapply.cfa.harvard.edu/
  • Proposals must contain:
    1. Cover page (generated by proposal system).
    2. Scientific Justification & Experimental Design (2 page limit, 12pt font required).
    3. Figures and Tables (1 page limit)
    4. Addendum (no page limit, but typically 2-3 pages as described in the Instructions for CfA OIR Telescope Proposals)
  • LATEX TEMPLATE for everything (except the Cover page, which is auto-generated). PDF version here.
  • If applying for more than one instrument, please submit a SEPARATE proposal for each instrument on each telescope (even if the same telescope). A proposal should contain a request for ONE instrument only. This facilitates bookkeeping and the review process.
  • Any proposal requiring more than one semester of time should be marked as Long: long-term proposals must state the number of nights needed for completion and, if continuing, state progress made.
  • Large proposals requesting more than 6 nights in a single semester are allowed an extra page for the scientific justification. These will be reviewed more critically.

REVIEW PROCESS: Proposals are sorted by telescope and by instrument, and then distributed to the Time Allocation Committee (TAC). Proposals are ranked according to:

  • Overall scientific merit
  • Publication record using CfA facilities
  • Availability of time requested

Grades from each TAC member are normalized and averaged to produced rank-ordered lists for each telescope. The TAC members meet to discuss each proposal and assign time, given the time available on a telescope. Finally, the time is scheduled by the observatory staff in consultation with the relevant TACs (e.g. Magellan involves 6 partners).

SCHEDULE NOTIFICATION: PIs are notified by the appropriate observatory (MMT, Magellan, or FLWO) when schedules are complete, typically 1 month before the semester begins. The TAC Chair will then send notes to PIs who were not scheduled time, or to PIs with substantive TAC feedback/concerns.