Time assignment information

Application deadlines

Following the change from four-month terms to six-month semesters, there has been some concern in the user community about the time interval between the proposal deadlines and start of a semester. In response to this concern, the application deadlines have been moved by two weeks to shorten this interval. The next deadline will be on 15 June 2005 for observations that will be scheduled between 01 October 2005 and 31 March 2006.

Compact Array

The oversubscription factor for the 2005APRS semester was 2.3. For this semester, the array configurations 6A, 6B, 1.5A, 750A, EW367, H214, H168 and H75 will be scheduled. Observing will be done with the standard 20, 13, 6, 3-cm and 12-mm systems on all six antennas, as well as the 3-mm systems on five antennas (frequency range 83.5 – 106.0 GHz).

The swap method of flexible scheduling will be used for 3-mm projects. It is likely that service mode observing will be granted to some centimetre projects which will be scheduled as swaps for 3-mm observations. During some of the semester, the Compact Array will operate as a split array: the wideband 20-GHz survey (AT20G) will use three antennas, while the remaining three will be available for centimetre observing.

Mopra

In 2005 APRS, the Mopra radio telescope is available for observations at 3-mm wavelength. Mopra will be available with the frequency range 86 – 115 GHz. Observations will also be considered at 20, 13, 6 and 3 cm, and 12-mm wavelengths where it can be demonstrated that Mopra offers a significant advantage over other facilities and/or where a substantial time is required.

The oversubscription factor for the semester was 1.4 during Galactic time. In non-Galactic time (e.g. LST 23:00 to 05:00), a significant amount of time will be unallocated.

With Mopra, the opportunity exists for a substantial fraction of the time to be made available to a small number of large projects, such as surveys. Pilot proposals for future large surveys will also be considered.

Tidbinbilla

The 70-m antenna will be available for the first four months of 2005 APRS. For a period of approximately six months from the end of July 2005, maintenance will be carried out on the azimuth bearing and a new antenna controller will be installed. Because of this, Tidbinbilla proposals submitted for 2005 APRS will remain active for 18 months rather than the usual 12 months. Tidbinbilla remains heavily oversubscribed in Galactic time.

Long Baseline Array

Eight days of LBA observations will be scheduled in 2005 APRS, from 12 – 20 May 2005. The oversubscription factor for the semester is approximately 2. As well as the usual S2 observations, disk-based recorders will be used at all Australian telescopes to provide a near-real-time fringe checking facility.

Bob Sault, Jessica Chapman and Jim Lovell
(Bob.Sault@csiro.au, Jessica.Chapman@csiro.au, Jim.Lovell@csiro.au)