NORDIC OPTICAL TELESCOPE CALL FOR PROPOSALS PERIOD 41: APRIL 1 – OCTOBER 1, 2010 The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) invites applications for observing time in Period 41, April 1 – October 1, 2010. The deadline for receipt of the applications is: *** Monday, November 2, 2009, at UT 12.00 noon. *** Note 1: Late applications are not accepted. However, proposals for short programmes (< 4 hours) using fixed instrument setups are welcome at any time (see http://www.not.iac.es/observing/service/ ). Note 2: Limited access to other European 2-4 m telescopes is supported by the EC via the OPTICON Access Programme (see below and http://www.ing.iac.es/opticon/ for procedures and deadlines). Applicants should carefully read the following instructions: 1: Proposals for projects of all sizes are welcome, large and small as well as medium-size. Pooling of related and synergistic proposals by consortia of groups with similar interests is encouraged. Observations are increasingly executed in service mode on pre-assigned nights. Proposals should state if service mode is not desirable. Applicants planning to propose Target-of-Opportunity or similar projects should contact the NOT Astronomer-in-Charge (tau@not.iac.es) in advance in order to discuss optimum strategies. 2: The proposal submission procedure is electronic. The Latex template and style files for Period 41 are available at the NOT web site: http://www.not.iac.es/observing/proposals/. Detailed instructions are provided in the template file itself and a README file; they should be followed carefully. Applicants should process and view the output of their files before submission in order to check that they process properly. Proposals using modified style files will not be accepted. Proposals requesting more than one observing run in the period (using different instruments on a project counts as separate runs) should specify them individually in the proposal as indicated. 3: Proposals should be submitted by e-mail before the above deadline to: proposal@not.iac.es, with the word "Proposal" both as Subject and as text. Automatic e-mail acknowledgement of receipt, with notification of any problems encountered in processing, is provided. Before the deadline, questions on proposal preparations or procedures may be sent to the same address with "Question" as the Subject. 4: Up-to-date information on instruments at NOT is found at http://www.not.iac.es/instruments/. Please note the following features for Period 41: * The new science grade array is now used in NOTCam, with much higher QE and better cosmetics than the former one. For details, see our web site. * The fiber-coupled echelle spectrograph FIES offers permanent availability, good stability, and many recent enhancements. Proposals requesting the SOFIN spectrograph must argue specifically why they cannot use FIES. * The photopolarimeter TurPol will likely to be retired in the near future. Proposals for TurPol should be submitted now. 5: Proposals are received and reviewed without regard to the nationality of the applicant(s). Acceptance of a proposal and allocation of observing time does not, however, imply any financial support from NOT (but see the OPTICON programme below). Note that only 75% of the total observing time for science is scheduled by NOTSA; the rest is Spanish and CCI International Time. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their proposal as soon as possible after the evaluation by the NOT Observing Programmes Committee and preparation of the observing schedule by the Director. Brief explanatory notes are provided to proposers, especially for rejected proposals. 6: The OPTICON(1) Trans-National Access Programme offers access for external users to NOT and many other European telescopes with the support of the European Commission. Eligible projects must be awarded observing time via the standard application and peer review procedure and meet the EC criterion for eligibility, i.e. that the P.I. and more than half of the project team (the P.I. and Co.I.s listed in the proposal) are from EU Member or Associated States(2) other than the five Nordic countries and Spain. Applications from new users, young researchers, and users from countries with no similar research infrastructures are given highest priority in allocating the limited funding provided for this programme and for travel, accommodation, and subsistence for the observer. Note that the OPTICON budget, including the access programme, is severely reduced as of 2009. All details on this programme are available from the Access Office at http://www.ing.iac.es/opticon/. September 30, 2009 J. Andersen Director, NOTSA Notes: 1. The Optical-Infrared Coordination Network OPTICON (see www.astro- opticon.org) is funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), but at a much lower level than in FP6. 2. For the purpose of the Access Programme: * EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. * Associated States are: Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey.