Director's Time on ATNF telescopes

Each semester approximately 5 - 10% of time is initially unallocated at the Parkes, Narrabri and Mopra Observatories and this is designated as Director's time. This time arises from short gaps between scheduled observations and from some longer slots that are set aside for more strategic use such as for NAPA observations and replacing lost time.

Director's time is administered by the officers-in-charge at the Observatories. Observers who wish to apply for Director's time should initially send an email to Phil Edwards, Head of Science Operations, (philip.edwards[at]csiro.au) with a brief justification for the time requested.

Wherever possible please provide at least two weeks notice for the time requested. Because of other constraints, Director's time at the Narrabri Observatory is not normally allocated more than two weeks before the available time.

In general Director's time is allocated using the following set of priorities:

1. The ATNF Director's discretion, and an allocation reserved in advance
2. Telescope tests and repairs (other than routine maintenance),
3. Target of opportunity and NAPA observations,
4. Observations by the duty astronomer (Narrabri only)
5. Observations by staff astronomers,
6. Observations by other astronomers on site at the time
7. requests for remote observing (Narrabri only) and other requests

Please note that Director's Time should not be used for observations that have previously been taken, and should not conflict with proposals recently submitted to, or approved by, the Time Assignment Committee.

Please check the the ATNF archive databases for previous observations.