Call for Proposals for Period 103

Published: 30 Aug 2018
Call for Proposals

The Call for Proposals for observations at ESO telescopes in Period 103 (1 April 2019 – 30 September 2019) has been released. Please consult the Period 103 document for the main news items and policies related to applying for time on ESO telescopes. All technical information about the offered instruments and facilities is contained on ESO webpages that are linked from the Call. The proposal submission deadline is 12:00 CEST 27 September 2018.

Here we summarise some of the important changes for Period 103:

  • In parallel to the OPC process, ESO will run an experiment to test distributed peer review and is looking for volunteer PIs.
  • The names of PIs and CoIs will be listed together and alphabetically on the last page of each proposal, so that the identity of the PI will not be disclosed to reviewers. The email address, affiliation and country of the PI will also be made unavailable. These changes are made when the proposal reaches the ESO system. Please see the full announcement here.
  • New Large and Monitoring Programmes are offered on UT4 in Period 103 but with some restrictions depending on the instrument (please see Section 1.1 of the Call for details).
  • MUSE in Narrow Field Mode is offered for the first time in Period 103.
  • The 4-UT mode of ESPRESSO is offered for the first time in Period 103 in Visitor Mode only. Users must request a total time that is a multiple of half a night. The minimum duration of individual observing slots is one half night.
  • New Large and Monitoring Programmes are offered on VLTI using either the ATs or the UTs for GRAVITY and PIONIER.
  • MATISSE is offered in Period 103 with a limited set of capabilities (please see Section 1.1 of the Call for details).
  • Normal, Monitoring and Large Programme proposals are accepted for OmegaCAM without restrictions on atmospheric conditions, lunar phase or RA range. For VIRCAM, only Normal Programme proposals are accepted in Period 103, but also with no restrictions.
  • The fraction of the available time on the NTT committed to ongoing Large Programmes is ∼5%. New Large Programmes for the NTT are therefore encouraged for this Period.