ASTRO-F ESA Call for Proposals (for Phase 2)

ASTRO-F (Akari) is a Japanese infrared all-sky survey mission. In addition to the sky survey, part of the mission will be dedicated to pointed observations of specific astronomical targets. ASTRO-F has the capability for imaging and spectroscopy in 13 infrared bands from 2 to 180 microns. Resulting from ESA's participation in the mission, individuals and teams from institutes in ESA Member States may submit observing proposals for pointed observations in ASTRO-F's European Open Time programme. The invitation letter from ESA's Director of Science is available below.

Japanese and Korean astronomers should consult the parallel ISAS Call.

Deadline for submission

The deadline for proposals submission was 18 November, 2005, 9:00 UT.

Proposal submission

Proposals were submitted in electronic form using the ASTRO-F Proposal Submission Tool.

The call has now closed and no more proposals may be submitted.

Documentation

• Letter from ESA Director of Science
  • The formal invitation letter from the Director of the ESA Scientific Programme PDF: [57 KB]
• Announcement of Opportunity: Call for Observing Proposals for ESA Open Time
  • A document providing the necessary information about the policies adopted and the procedures to be followed. PDF: [144 KB]
• ASTRO-F Observers Factsheet
  • A synoptic 3-page overview of the mission and instrument capabilities, sensitivities and observing modes.. PDF: [656 KB]
• ASTRO-F Observer's Manual Version 3.2
  • A document which describes the mission, scientific instruments and observing modes, the instrument pre-flight performance, including guidelines for the observation planning: PDF: [3.6 MB]
• Description of Large Area Survey (LS) and Mission Program (MP) Observations
  • LS and MP Abstracts [PDF; 1.1MB]
  • Blocked Target List

Support tools

• Target list Validity Check Tool
  • A web tool to check the format of a proposal target list.
• Visibility Tool
  • A web tool to check target visibility.
• Duplication Check Tool
  • A web tool to check duplication of a target list against nearby entries in the blocked target list.
• Instrument Performance Tool
  • A web tool to estimate the number of pointing observations needed for a given flux and signal-to-noise ratio, or the signal-to-noise ratio for a given flux in one pointing observation with a given AOT.
• iris_sky
  • An IDL tool developed at ISAS to browse IRAS and 2MASS images and overlay the ASTRO-F Field-of-Views.

Additional information

• IRC Relative Spectral Response Functions (RSRFs)
• FIS Relative Spectral Response Functions (RSRFs)

Guidelines for proposal preparation

Worked examples are contained in the Appendix to the Observers Manual. These provide guidelines from scientific concept through to proposal submission, via use of the tools provided.
 

Background information

ASTRO-F was launched on 22 February 2006 and has a foreseen operational lifetime of about 1.5 years. This Announcement of Opportunity covers the period following the completion of the first round of all-sky survey, 8 months after launch, and lasting until the cryogen is depleted. This phase is estimated to last 300 days.

10% of the total observing time for pointed observations in this Phase will be dedicated to successful proposals from this Call. Proposals will be peer-reviewed by an ESA established Time Allocation Committee, and then merged with those resulting from the parallel Japanese Call. The result of this process will be made known to the proposers after the launch of ASTRO-F.

Helpdesk

For any questions about the ESA ASTRO-F Open Time observations, please consult the ESA ASTRO-F Helpdesk