NORDIC OPTICAL TELESCOPE CALL FOR PROPOSALS PERIOD 66: OCTOBER 1, 2022 - APRIL 1, 2023 The Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) invites applications for observing time in Period 66; October 1, 2022 - April 1, 2023. The deadline for receipt of the applications is: Monday, May 30, 2022, at UT 12.00 noon Special notice Beyond any regular proposal that is submitted for Period 66, there is a long-term monitoring program being executed with the NOT that will require 30 min of observing time on a nightly basis, and would be programmed on most nights available for applicants to this Call for Proposals. In principle, the normal rules as for Target-of-Opportunity observations also applies to this nightly observations, so such proposals should not be affected. Applicants for regular observing programs (in visitor mode or service mode) who consider that having these observations scheduled in nights allocated to their program is a (potential) problem for their program, should state so in the proposal, indicating the reasons. The applicants are reminded of the following: * As maintained in the new organization, the share of observing time for applicants will be proportional to the contributions from the different Partners. Although the situation with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic has improved a lot, there is always the possibility of things getting worse, especially in the winter period. In particular, the option to do observing runs in visitor mode might be limited, and observations might have to be done in service. In general, for observations in service mode, a contribution to the operational cost is required. The detailed rules for the allocation of observing time and the related user contributions can be found at http://www.not.iac.es/observing/rules/ObservingTimeAndContributions.pdf * A system of Large Observing Proposals has been introduced, where researchers or research groups can apply for observing time for multi-semester programs. A separate proposal form has been prepared for Large proposals. The form can be downloaded together with the regular proposal form. The proposal submission is the same for both regular and Large proposals. The detailed rules applicable to these Large proposals can be found at http://www.not.iac.es/observing/largeproposals/LargeProposalsRules.pdf * Late applications are not accepted. However, proposals for short programmes (<= 4 hours) using fixed instrument set-ups are welcome at any time (see http://www.not.iac.es/observing/service/). The Fast-Track programme is a service that is provided free of cost to researchers affiliated with a Partner institution. It also incorporates a system to compensate regular observing programs for time lost due to interruptions by observations for Target-of-Opportunity or Monitoring programmes. * Reminder: The exchange program between the NOT and Italian TNG telescope has been terminated. Starting with Period 65, Nordic astronomers who want access to the TNG, or Italian astronomers who want access to the NOT, will have to apply through an EU Trans-National Access Programme (see below). Applicants should carefully read the following instructions: 1: Proposals are reviewed without regard to the nationality of the applicant(s). Non-Nordic proposals should be submitted via the OPTICON programme if possible (see below), and the total time allocated to 'foreign' projects will be limited to ~15% of the Nordic time. This limit does not apply to Italian projects submitted under the joint call described above. 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. Note also that only 75% of the science time can be scheduled by NOT; the rest is Spanish time (20%), or time allocated based on the agreement to operate the telescope at the ORM observatory (5%). Awards of observing time do not imply any financial support from NOT. 2: 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. Visitor mode observing is the basic mode provided. Programmes requiring service mode observing, or propose a Monitoring, Target-of-Opportunity (ToO) or similar project, should so indicate this in the proposal. In principle, compensation is provided in service mode for any observing time affected by Monitoring or ToO observations. Applicants having particular, or complex scheduling requirements should contact the director (director@not.iac.es) in advance in order to discuss optimum strategies. 3: The proposal submission procedure is electronic. The Latex template and style files for both regular and Large proposals for Period 66 are available at the NOT web site: http://www.not.iac.es/observing/proposals/. Detailed instructions are provided in the template files themselves and in 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 a period (using different instruments on a project counts as separate runs) should specify them individually in the proposal as indicated. 4: Regular and Large 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. 5: Up-to-date information on instruments at NOT is found at http://www.not.iac.es/instruments/. Please note the following features for Period 66: - The double image polarimeter DIPol-UF continuous to be available as a visitor instrument at the NOT. It allows for high-speed and high-precision broad-band polarimetry simultaneously in 3 pass-bands (BVR), but can also be used as a high-speed 3-band photometer. DIPol-UF is not a common-user instrument, but is only supported during specific periods. See for more information: http://www.not.iac.es/instruments/dipol-uf - The SOFIN high-resolution Echelle spectrograph is also available. It only is offered to do circular spectro-polarimetry with the medium-resolution (R~80,000) camera. SOFIN is not a common-user instrument: only limited support is provided. 6: The ORP (OPTICON-RadioNet Pilot) Trans-National Access Programme provides access for external users to NOT and several other European telescopes with support from the European Union. NB: Proposals for OPTICON time are submitted and reviewed separately two months before the normal NOT proposals, and all eligible non-Nordic applicants should follow the OPTICON procedure. See https://orp-h2020.eu/optical-telescope-transnational-access for the next deadline and all details on this programme. 7: The ChETEC-INFRA Trans-National Access Programme provides access to telescopes for astronomical observations, nuclear laboratories to measure nuclear properties and rates, and supercomputers to compute complex stellar models aimed at Nuclear astrophysics research. There is call for ChETEC-INFRA TNA proposals each 3 months, but in principle only the calls in May and November are open for proposals for the observing time at the NOT in the semesters October to March, and April to September, respectively. (Any proposal to the NOT submitted at the other deadlines will only be considered for allocation in the subsequent proposal round). See https://www.chetec-infra.eu/tna/ for details on this programme. May 5, 2022 T. Augusteijn Director, NOT