This is the page which allows you to enter the details of your proposed observations.
Almost all of the information supplied on this page is optional. You may if you wish specify your requested observations in some detail, or you may supply as little as the total integration time requested. However, if you have specific requests (such as acceptable LST ranges, details of a monitoring program) this is the place to enter such information.
Note: For successful proposals, every effort will be made during the scheduling process to fulfill the requests made on this page. However, acceptance of the proposal does not guarantee the telescope time allocated will exactly match the request.
Selecting an option in the left window will open the associated panel in the right one. Just fill in or click on as appropriate.
The following sections first describe the minimal proposal, and
then how to add details.
Click on "Program Information" (icon or text) on the left hand panel. The right-hand panel will allow selection between "Classical" or "Queue" based observing. Queue-based observing is not yet implemented for the GBT, so the selection is irrelevant (note, make default Classical!)
Below the Classical/Queue radio buttons is a grayed-out text box labelled "total time". The fact that it is grayed-out indicates that you cannot enter a value here - the total time that you have requested is calculated by the tool.
Click on Resources (icon or text) on the left hand panel. The right-hand panel.will display the "resources" available under four categories - observing mode, switching scheme, frontend and backend. You may "close-up" each category by clicking on the key icon. Select one or more resources from each category. There is only one resource selection for the whole proposal, so select each resource you need for all your observations.Click on the "summary" tab in the resources panel to see your current selection.
You may add constraints to your proposal to indicate when you wish the observations to be performed. Currently, these are of two types: scheduling constraints and conditions constraints.
Scheduling constraints allow you to indicate when you would like your observations to be scheduled. This may take the form of specifying an acceptable LST range, you may also indicate periods of time when you would prefer you observation to be, or not to be scheduled.
Conditions constraints allow you to specify opacity, phase, pointing and surface accuracy requirements before your observations will be performed. You may add such constraints if you like, but there are currently no firm plans to schedule on the basis of them.
Constraints specified at this level of the observation tree are global to the complete proposal. Alternatively, specific constraints may be applied to specific observing sessions. Let us add some observations first, and then return to the question of constraints.
Sessions form the meat of the observation definition. A session is essentially a "block" of observing time (which may be repeated a number of times within a trimester). Many proposals will only require the specification of one session. However, if your proposal logically consists of a number of distinct observations, you may wish to specify them as distinct sessions.
All observing proposals must include at least one session, so one is created by default. First, let us add some targets. Click on the "key" icon to the left of "Session" to open it up. Then click on Targets (icon or text). The right-hand panel will switch to the Targets pane. If some targets have already been created (either from the Targets Tab Page or from previous Sessions), these will appear at the top of the pane. To include an existing target, simply click in the "selected?" check-box. If no targets yet exist, or you want to create a new one, click on the "New Target" button at the bottom of the page. Enter the target as described for the Targets Tab Page.
Once you had added all of the targets which you wish to associate with this session, click on Session (icon or text) on the left- hand panel. The right-hand panel will display the session pane, including the Integration Time (use the pull-down choice box to switch between minutes and hours), the Total Time, and a box labelled "over-ride default constraints". Enter the Integration Time that you will need for this observing session (calculated according to the instructions in the Observing Guide). For now, the Total Time will simply reflect the requested Integration Time.
If you wish to divide your observations up into separate sessions, click on the "New Session" button at the top of the page. A new session will appear in the left hand panel, and you may repeat the above process. You may cut, copy and paste between sessions using the appropriate buttons.
If you have no special scheduling requirements on when you observations are performed, you have completed the Observations Tab Page. Click on "Program Information" on the left hand panel to see exactly how much telescope time you have asked for. However, it is quite likely that you will wish to add one or more scheduling constraints, as described below.
Using a Scheduling Constraint, you may specify one or more of the following quantities for any or all of your sessions:
If you wish to apply a global scheduling constraint which will apply to all sessions, click on "Constraints" three lines down on the left-hand panel.If any constraints already exist, they will appear at the top of the right-hand panel. To create a new Scheduling Constraint, select "Create" at the bottom of the right hand panel. An icon labeled "Scheduling" will appear below "Constraints" as the fourth line down on the left hand panel. Click on this. The Scheduling Editor pane will appear as the right hand panel. Give the constraint a name (e.g. "global"). You may then complete the information in the "Optional Start/Stop Time Information" tab page, or the "Optional Dates Information" tab page.
If you wish to apply a scheduling constraint to a specific session, click on that session on the left hand panel, then click on "override default constraints" on the right hand panel. This time the "Constraints" icon will appear below the Session you are editting. Proceed as above.
If you add a "session repeat", either to a global scheduling constraint or to a specific session, then for the affected sessions, the Integration Time will be multiplied by the number of sessions requested to calculate the Total Time for that session. The Program Information Total Time will also be updated accordingly.