With the release of the telescope schedule for October 2015 тАУ March 2016, preparation of Service Mode (SM) observations (Phase 2) starts. The deadline for the submission of the Phase 2 material for Period 96 observations is 6 August 2015. Detailed information on Phase 2 observation preparation can be found here.
Phase 2 for Observing Period 96
Published: 03 Jul 2015
There is a new release of the Phase 2 Proposal Preparation (P2PP) tool Version 3.4.2 and all users must download this new P2PP3 version for the preparation of SM observations for Paranal instruments. This release includes a direct link with the new Guidecam tool, as well as internal changes necessary for the estimation of the Image Quality based on the Phase 1 seeing requested in the proposal.
Starting from the Period 96 Call for Proposals, the seeing requested in the Phase 1 proposal refers to the seeing in the V-band at zenith, while in the Phase 2 material, for most instruments, users should specify the expected Image Quality. The Image Quality is defined as the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of long-exposure stellar images, and is thus a measured property of the images obtained in the focal plane of an instrument at a given airmass and wavelength of observation. More details are available here.
With the help of the Exposure Time Calculators (ETCs) the requested Phase 1 V-band seeing at zenith can be transformed into the desired Image Quality at the observed wavelength and airmass for each instrument. The OB validation script included in P2PP 3.4.2 will verify and help to set the expected Image Quality.