Time assignment information

Duty astronomers

Duty astronomers at the Compact Array are rostered from ATNF staff and students to provide support to observers at Narrabri for periods of one week at a time. The duty astronomers are required to assist observers prepare observing schedules, help set up the Compact Array at the start of an observing run, diagnose and attempt to solve problems that arise in the course of the observations and help observers with the initial analysis of their data.

Following input from the user community some changes have recently been made to the duty-astronomer system with the aim of improving the reliability of the support provided to observers. Since 1 April 2005 the ATNF has reinforced the requirement that duty astronomers are expected to arrive at the observatory before the start of their rostered period. Inexperienced DAs receive a detailed induction during this time from a member of the telescope staff. Experienced non-ATNF astronomers may serve as DA, but only with the prior approval of the ATNF Director. The full ATNF Duty astronomer policy is available on the web at:

www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/support/da_information.html .

Remote observing at the Compact Array

Astronomers who are successful in being granted time on the Compact Array are expected to operate the array for their own observations. In most cases, observers are present at Narrabri and operate the array from the on-site control room. It is also possible for experienced observers to operate the Array from remote locations without visiting the Observatory. To help astronomers stay up-to-date with developments at the Compact Array, remote observing is only granted to astronomers who have observed with the array in person at Narrabri within the previous 12 months.

Following the changes to the Duty-astronomer system, a previous requirement, that overseas observers should have provided duty astronomer support, is no longer required. Full information on the conditions for remote observing is available at:

www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing /remote_conditions.html.

Director's time

Each semester approximately 5 – 10% of time is initially unallocated at the Parkes and Narrabri 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.

The 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 Bob Sault (for Narrabri) or John Reynolds (for Parkes) with a brief justification for the time requested.

In general Director's time is allocated following a set of priorities with a higher priority given to duty astronomers and other astronomers present on the site than to requests for remote observing. Further information is given on the web page:

www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/directors_time.html .

Tidbinbilla information

From 18 July 2005 until January 2006, the 70-m antenna will undergo maintenance on the azimuth bearing and the antenna controller hardware will be upgraded. No observations will be possible during this time. Tidbinbilla proposals submitted for the 2005APRS deadline will remain active for 18 months rather than the usual 12 months to compensate for this.

The upgrade of the 12-mm system from single to dual channels is progressing well. Installation and testing will be carried out during the 70-m downtime and it is expected that dual polarisation observations will be possible when it returns to service in January.

A new web-based sensitivity calculator is now available to help in proposal preparation. It can be found on the Tidbinbilla page:

www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/tidbinbilla.

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