Applying for time on the ANU 2.3-metre telescope
2025A Call for Proposals
The call is now closed.
However, astronomers can still apply for Director's Discretionary Time. See below.
Astronomers need to use the Lens proposal preparation tool to submit requests. If you do not have a Data Central account, you will need to create one. All authors on proposals for time on the 2.3-metre telescope need to have a Data Central account before they can be added to the proposal.
Please submit any questions about Lens to tacinfo@mso.anu.edu.au. Additional information can be found from the Lens FAQ and Lens User Guide.
Automated Operation
On March 04 2023, the ANU 2.3-metre telescope switched to automatic operations. Data and the associated calibration frames are taken automatically without human intervention.
Open time, paid time and guaranteed time
There are three types of telescope time: open time, paid time and guaranteed time.
A mixture of proposal types can be submitted in one proposal.
Open time
To be eligible to apply for open time, 50% or more of the authors on the proposal including the principal investigator must be based at Australian institutions.
At least 50% of the time in a semester split by lunation will be allocated to open time.
Successful open-time ranked proposals will be ranked from high priority to low priority.
Paid time
Paid time is open to any astronomer worldwide. The rate for paid time is AUD400 per hour for Australian-based astronomers and AUD600 per hour for astronomers not based in Australia. All amounts are exclusive of GST.
The rate is set by the RSAA Director.
Paid-time users are invoiced at the end of each semester and will be charged for the amount of time used and not the time requested. If needed, an invoice can be prepared before the semester starts.
Paid-time observing requests (ORs) have higher priority than open-time ORs.
Guaranteed time
Guaranteed time is available to organisations that have contributed to some aspect of the 2.3-metre (e.g. developing new capabilities for the telescope). The amount of guaranteed time is specified in an MoU or a contract between the organisations and RSAA.
Guaranteed-time ORs have higher priority than paid-time ORs.
ORs from all three types of time can be interrupted by Target-of-Opportunity ORs.
Targets of Opportunity
Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) programs can be broadly classified based on the urgency of observation requests (ORs).
The Time Allocation Commitee (TAC) has defined these classes as:
- Hard ToO - for ORs that need to be executed as soon as possible.
- Regular monitoring & Fixed-Time Window - for ORs that need to be scheduled in particular time range, or for monitoring an object at a semi-regular cadence.
- Soft ToO - for ORs that need to be scheduled soon, but not necessarily immediately.
The rules for Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) programs are as follows.
- Only ToO-approved programs can submit ToO ORs.
- Hard ToO ORs override all other types of observations apart from other Hard ToO ORs.
- Regular monitoring and Soft ToO ORs are scheduled promptly due to an implicit high priority.
- There is no daily limit to the number of ToOs submitted or scheduled.
- No more than 15% of the telescope time will be allocated to ToO and Fixed time proposals.
- Individual ToO ORs should be limited to one hour duration.
- Hard ToO approved programs can submit ORs as Soft ToOs.
- For truly exceptional events, the SSO Director may approve a ToO OR that is not part of an approved program.
The overall observing efficiency is higher if ORs are submitted as Soft ToOs rather than Hard ToOs, and ToO approved programs are expected to reasonably assess the need to override an active observation before submitting a Hard ToO OR.
Director’s Discretionary Time
The RSAA Director may, at their discretion, allocate time to requests submitted to them (Director’s Discretionary Time).
Requests for Director's Discretionary Time (DDT) can be submitted at any time.
Carryover
Observations are not carried over from one semester to the next.
Visitor Instruments
Visitor instruments are welcome to use the free Nasmyth port to mount their instrument. These observations are done in classical visitor mode and can be done either remotely or from the telescope. Please send requests to the SSO Director.
Where to get help
A User Guide explaining how the new system works.
All questions about the time allocation process can be sent to tacinfo@mso.anu.edu.au.
All questions about the preparation of observations, the archive and data processing should be sent to 2.3-user-support@mso.anu.edu.au.
You can also check out the 2.3-metre automation FAQ.
2.3m application process
All applications to the MSO TAC must be made using Lens. The proposal PI and all Co-Is need Lens accounts.
Scientific Justificaiton
The science case needs to be a PDF file that is no longer than two pages. The scientific justifiction needs to carefully justify the number of targets and the amount of exposure time.
Requests for Hard ToO time need to be fully justified.
Target list
The target list needs to be a PDF file that is no longer than one page.
For ToO proposals, authors should note where the source of the targets.
Acknowledging the 2.3-metre
Please consider adding the following acknowledgement in papers that use data from the 2.3-metre telescope.
Based [in part] on data acquired at the ANU 2.3-metre telescope [, under program ... ]. The automation of the telescope was made possible through an initial grant provided by the Centre of Gravitational Astrophysics and the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University and through a grant provided by the Australian Research Council through LE230100063. The Lens proposal system is maintained by the AAO Research Data & Software team as part of the Data Central Science Platform. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which the telescope stands, the Gamilaraay people, and pay our respects to elders past and present.
The 2.3m automated observing system is described in Price et al. 2024. Please consider citing this paper.
ANU Time Assignment Committee
The ANU Time Assignment Committee (TAC) meets quarterly to consider applications for use of ANU telescopes and instruments.
Membership and Rules for ANU TAC
Membership as of October 2024:
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Prof. Paul Francis | Chair |
| A/Prof. Chris Wolf | Member |
| Dr Giada Casali | Member |
| Neelish Amrutha | Student Member |
| Dr Fiona Panther | External Member |
Contacts
2.3-user-support@mso.anu.edu.au.