HST Call for Proposals

1.4	Resources, Documentation and Tools

1.4.1 Cycle 24 Announcement Webpage

1.4.2 Phase I Roadmap

1.4.3 HST Primer

1.4.4 Instrument Handbooks

1.4.5 The Astronomer’s Proposal Tool (APT)

1.4.6 Exposure Time Calculators (ETCs)

1.4.7 HST Data Archive

1.4.8 Duplication checking

1.4.1 Cycle 24 Announcement Webpage

The Cycle 24 Announcement webpage provides links to information and documentation that will be useful to you while preparing your proposals. This page will also provide any late-breaking updates on the Phase I process, and answers to frequently asked questions.

1.4.2 Phase I Roadmap

The Phase I Proposal Roadmap is a high level step-by-step guide to writing a Phase I Proposal. Links to the appropriate sections of various documents (Call for Proposals, Primer, etc.) are given for each step.

1.4.3 HST Primer

The HST Primer provides a basic introduction to the technical aspects of HST and its instruments, and explains how to request the appropriate number of orbits in a Phase I proposal.

1.4.4 Instrument Handbooks

The Instrument Handbooks are the primary source of information for the HST instruments. You should use current versions of the Instrument Handbooks when preparing a proposal. They are available for all instruments, including former instruments that may be of interest for Archival Research. The Handbooks are distributed electronically, and can be accessed from the HST Documents webpage. This page also provides links to more detailed technical information, such as that provided in Instrument Science Reports.

1.4.5 The Astronomer’s Proposal Tool (APT)

The Astronomer’s Proposal Tool (APT) is the interface for all Phase I and Phase II proposal submissions for HST. The current version of APT, along with minor bug fixes and enhancements, is essentially the same system as was used in the last cycle. See the "What’s New" button in APT for details on the changes. The APT webpage contains information on the installation and use of APT.

The Aladin Sky Atlas is available via APT. This interface can be used to display HST apertures on images of the sky. This tool brings a variety of benefits to users including access to a wide variety of images and catalogs. The GALEX catalog is available in Aladin to assist in checking for potentially dangerous objects for the UV detectors. Training documentation and videos can be found on the APT Training Materials page.

1.4.6 Exposure Time Calculators (ETCs)

STScI provides Exposure Time Calculators (ETCs) for each of the HST instruments. Please use those electronic tools to estimate how long you need to integrate to achieve the signal-to-noise ratio required for your project. The ETCs will also issue warnings about target count rates that exceed linearity and safety limits. The ETCs can be accessed from the HST ETC webpage.

1.4.7 HST Data Archive

The HST Data Archive is part of the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). The HST Data Archive contains all the data taken by HST. Completed HST observations from both GO and GTO Programs are available to the community upon the expiration of their proprietary periods. Observations taken under Large and Treasury Programs generally carry no proprietary period.

The MAST HST main page provides an overview of the HST Data Archive, as well as the procedures for retrieving archival data (see also the introductory description in Section 7.2 of the HST Primer). The Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) and the European Space Agency Centre (ESAC) maintain copies of the HST science data, and are the preferred sources for Canadian and European astronomers.

The Hubble Legacy Archive (HLA) is a project to offer enhanced HST archive products. The HLA is a joint project of the Space Telescope Science Institute, the European Coordinating Facility, and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre. It offers access to high level HST products including composite images and interactive tools for previewing data products. Section 7.3 of the HST Primer contains more detailed information about the HLA.

The HLA also produces source lists for tens of thousands of HST images. The Hubble Source Catalog (HSC) combines these visit-based WFC3, ACS, and WFPC2 source lists from the HLA in to a master catalog with roughly 100 million sources, hence providing entry into the field of database astronomy. Searches that would require months or years to perform in the past can, in may cases, be done in seconds. This resource may be used to support a wide range of new archival proposals, a few potential examples of which are listed in Section 7.4 of the HST Primer. Version 1 of the HSC was released in February 2015, and Version 2 is scheduled to be released in February 2016.

1.4.8 Duplication checking

The HST Data Archive provides access to several tools that allow you to check whether planned observations duplicate any previously executed or accepted HST observations. See Section 5.2.2 for details.

See Section 5.1 of the HST Primer for more information on Bright Object Constraints.