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Service Observations, Director Discretionary Time, and Target of Opportunity:

Phase II preparation
-Period 72-

Warning: This page is for Period 72 only. For Programs to be executed during Period 71, please refer to the instructions for that period. For Period 73, refer to the updated instructions.

Content

• Introduction
  • Phase II Philosophy
  • Service Modes
  • Schedule & Dead-Line
  • Priorities and Classes
• Phase II Preparation
  • 1-Install the P2PP Tool
  • 2-Install the P2PP Instrument Package(s)
  • 3-Telescope documentation
  • 4-Instrument Documentation
  • 5-Observing strategy
  • 6-Create Observation Blocks
    • Standard Calibration Plan
    • Total time and overheads
  • 7-Create the finding charts
  • 8-fill in a README file
  • 9-Prepare your Information package
  • 10-Acknowledgement
  • 11-Data Distribution

Introduction

This document is designed to guide you through the Phase II of your Service Observations (SO) at La Silla for Period 72.

Service Program on WFI on ESO/MPI 2.2m get support from the User Support Group; for these programs, you should refer to the generic Phase II at VLT and WFI page, to the WFI-specific page and links therein.

The FEROS instrument package will be released in September. The dead line does not apply for that instrument.

Most of this document is also relevant for Director Discretionary Time (DDT) and, in some cases, for Target of Opportunity (ToO) observations. 

This document is not valid for P.71 and anterior (P.71 info).

Phase II Philosophy

During this Phase II, you will prepare all the observations to be executed for your program. The observations are defined using "Observation Blocks" (OBs). Each OB specifies an individual observing sequence that can --and should-- be scheduled and executed completely without interruption. OBs can specify simple operations like "acquire one R-band image with EMMI" as well as complex operations like "Preset the telescope, identify the star and move it to the 0.6" slit, and obtain a sequence of jittered spectra in the K band through the low resolution grism, then another sequence of jittered spectra in the J band" with SofI.

For VLT-compliant instruments ( CES, EFOSC2, EMMI, SofI, SuSI2, HARPS, and TIMM2), you will use the P2PP tool (more below) to prepare your OBs. For non-VLT-compliant instruments (FEROS), this information is just provided as a text file.

In addition to the OBs, you will have to prepare finding charts for each of your OBs, and to write up a README file describing your strategy. All these informations, which constitute your "Information Package" are to be submitted to the La Silla Science Operation (SciOp), which will review them. Accepted OBs are queued for scheduling, while rejected OBs will be returned to you, and must be corrected and re-submitted before scheduling can begin. One of the SciOp astronomer will be your support astronomer. His name and email have been or will soon be sent to you. Don't hesitate to contact him for any question related to the strategy of your observations, or their implementation in OBs: an iteration at this stage can save a lot of time and headache at a later time. If you don't receive a reply within a couple of days, re-send your message to lasilla@eso.org: it happens that one of the astronomer cannot access his email, but lasilla is checked several times every day.

Service Modes

Various flavors of Service Observing are available. The type of Service Mode applicable for your program is indicated in the message you have (or soon will) receive.

• Flexible Scheduling, or Queue Mode: all the OBs submitted for all the programs constitute a pool from which the best is selected for execution, taking into account the constraints of visibility, seeing, photometry, etc. This is the case for most NTT programs and some of those on the 3.6m.
• Delegated Service Mode: as for Visitor Mode, the program is scheduled on a given night, but the observations will be performed by observatory staff. If that night is bad, the program is lost, as for normal visitor mode. This is the case for most 3.6m and selected NTT programs.
• Target of Opportunity: when the program is triggered, its observations have over-riding status on the normally scheduled program(s). Please note that i) some additional restrictions apply, as described in the ToO Policy, and ii) follow-up observations (e.g. monitoring of a GRB after the original observations) have a limited over-riding status: they will be scheduled so to minimize the impact on regular observations.

Schedule & Dead-Line

Only the nights marked as "Queue Schedule" are available for general programs. Keep this in mind if you specify some time constraints for your OBs: OBs requiring observations outside of these dates will not be executed.

For ToOs, only the restrictions in the ToO Policy apply. Note that, on a given night, the instruments listed in the telescope schedule is the only one whose availability is guaranteed.

3.6m

Start-End date   Nights    Instr.   Status
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
06 Oct 2003     0.5           CES3.6   Delegated 72.D-0319(A) Frink                                             
16 Oct 2003     0.5(1H1)      EFOSC2   Delegated 72.C-0630(A) Scholz
25 Oct 2003     0.2           HARPS    Delegated 72.C-0096(A) Santos                                             
22 Dec 2003     0.2           HARPS    Delegated 72.C-0096(B) Santos                                              
10 Jan 2004       1           HARPS    Delegated 72.D-0419(A) Kervella                       
21 Jan 2004     0.2           HARPS    Delegated 72.C-0096(C) Santos                                      
21 Jan 2004       2           HARPS    Delegated 72.D-0419(B) Kervella                                      
08 Feb 2004     0.5           CES3.6   Delegated 72.D-0319(E) Frink                                      
11 Feb 2004     0.4           HARPS    Delegated 72.C-0096(D+E) Santos                                      
16 Mar 2004       1           EFOSC2   Delegated 72.C-0630(B) Scholz

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Start-End date   Nights    Instr.   Status
---------------------------------------------------------------------------                 
01 Oct 2003       2           all      Queue
23 Oct 2003     0.5(1H1)      all      Queue
24 Oct 2003       1           all      Queue
30 Nov 2003       1           all      Queue
01 Dec 2003     1.5(3H2)      all      Queue
22 Dec 2003       1           all      Queue
26 Dec 2003       3           all      Queue
11 Jan 2004     1.5(3H2)      all      Queue
18 Jan 2004       1(2H1)      all      Queue
27 Jan 2004     3.6(12x0.3H2) all      Queue
03 Feb 2004     2.5(5H1)      all      Queue
23 Feb 2004       2(4H2)      all      Queue
26 Feb 2004       2(4H2)      all      Queue
13 Mar 2004       1(2H1)      all      Queue
15 Mar 2004     0.5(1H1)      EMMI     Delegated 72.C-0571 Mugrauer
15 Mar 2004     0.5(1H2)      all      Queue
22 Mar 2004       1(2H2)      all      Queue
28 Mar 2004     0.5(1H1)      SofI     Delegated 72.C-0571 Mugrauer
28 Mar 2004     0.5(1H1)      all      Queue
30 Mar 2004       1           So+EM    Delegated 72.D-0050 Mirabel
31 Mar 2004       1           all      Queue           

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Only a small fraction of the time is available for Queue Service Mode. So, the probability to get exceptional condition is not that high.

2.2m

WFI: refer to the WFI instructions

FEROS: the observations can be performed during any Service period, including the WFI ones, i.e. during a large fraction of the Period.

For Service Mode and OPC/ToO, the dead line for submitting your Information Package is August 20, 2003.. This dead line will be strictly enforced. Late submission penalities apply (from downgrade of priority to cancelation of the program).

For not urgent DDTC observations: pls send us the information package as soon as possible after the time has been allocated, and in any case one week before the observations (non-overriding DDT observations are scheduled either during Reserved time or during SO time).

For DDT/ToO observationssend us the information NOW, ideally OBs in "import/export" format by email to La Silla (more details below). Refer to the guidelines for ToO for further information.

Priorities and Classes

Phase II Preparation

The PIs of all Service Observation programs on VLT-compliant instruments (EMMI, SUSI2, SofI, EFOSC2, CES, and TIMMI2) must complete the following steps:

• 1-Install the P2PP Tool:

  refer to http://www.eso.org/observing/p2pp/P2PP-tool.html for instructions. Be sure to retrieve the Java version, P2PP v. >= 2.6, and to retrieve the version number listed on that page. For help with this installation, pls contact usg-help@eso.org (not SciOp: we are P2PP users, but have no special knowledge about the installation of that program; the specialists are at USG). Again, p2pp-2.5.* (and p2pp-1.*) will not work.
  P2PP-2.6 will be released on July 15, 2003.

• 2-Install the appropriate P2PP Instrument Package(s).

  As of 2002-02-01, all the instrument packages are automatically updated within P2PP version >=2.5. The appropriate OB will be uploaded automatically by P2PP.

• 3-Read the general documentation:

  • Generic
  • NTT
  • 3.6m
  • 2.2m

• 4-Read the instrument specific pages

  Each instrument is listed on the Instrument Forces page. Please download and read the instrument User's Manual.

• 5-Discuss your observing strategy

  with your support astronomer. Unless you are a very experienced La Silla observer, we strongly recommend at least one iteration.

• 6-Create Observation Blocks (OBs),

  following instructions and advice in P2PP User's Manual. Your P2PP ID and Password were included in your notification message.

  For P2PP specific problems, pls contact usg-help@eso.org. For telescope, instrument, template and strategy problems, contact your support astronomer.

  You must create one OB for each observation; each OB must include an acquisition template. Observations that have to be repeated must have the corresponding number of copies of the same OB (use the "duplicate" function in P2PP). While preparing the OBs, just use the normal automatic save to disk (local cache). The instructions on how to send us the OBs are given later.

  • For OPC-pre-approved TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY observations, please provide a model of the OB you want to execute, assuming a typical object. Leave the coordinates to 00:00:00, 00:00:00. When you trigger the ToO, send us the coordinates, and the adjusted exposure times if needed. You don't have to provide multiple copies of these model OBs. The ToO must be triggered using the Web Form available at http://www.eso.org/lasilla/sciops/bin/sciOp_tooForm.cgi. This trigger must reach us 16h00 La Silla time. The La Silla ToO policy is found at http://www.ls.eso.org/lasilla/sciops/doc/LSO-POL-MAN-000-001_v2.0_ToO.html .
  • For DDT ToO Program, 
  • prepare the OBs
  • export them in a local impex directory
  • make a tar file with the .obx files, the README and finders (see below)
  • email the tar file to lasilla@eso.org.
  • For DDT non-ToO program, send us the OBs as for any normal SO program, as soon as possible after you got the time.
  
  OB Rules and Advices:
  • Some observing strategies cannot be supported in Service Mode; in particular, real-time decisions about the sequencing of OBs, complex OB sequencing, or decisions based on the outcome of previously executed OBs (like adjustment of integration times or execution of some OBs instead of others).
  • OBs are only executed once. If you want to repeat an identical observation multiple times, you must submit multiple OBs. This requirement applies to standard stars as well.
  • OBs are executed non-contiguously. Since efficient Service Mode operations require continuous flexibility to best match the OB constraints with actual observing conditions, OBs for a given programme are normally scheduled non-contiguously. Therefore, users should not expect their OBs to be executed on a specific sequence or in a linked way, unless a sound scientific justification (to be indicated in the README file) exists. Exceptions to this rule are cases in which one OB observing a calibrations source needs to be executed contiguously to a science OB.
  • OB execution times must be below 1 hour. Long OBs are more difficult to schedule and execute within the specified constraints because of the unpredictable evolution of the observing conditions. For this reason, OBs taking more than one hour to execute time are accepted by ESO only in exceptional cases
  • Time constraints must be indicated in the OBs. If you intend to observe time-critical events or monitor a target at specific time windows, you need to indicate this under the Time Intervals tab of the OBs. This information needs to be provided also in the corresponding section of the README file. Specifying time windows as broad as possible will reduce the possibilities that your OBs are not executed because of higher priority programmes or because the external conditions did not allow the observations during the interval that you specified.
  • Specify the weakest possible Constraint Set values. OBs that can be executed under a broad range of conditions are easier to schedule, especially if they belong to priority groups B or C. In particular, if photometry is needed of a field, it is normally sufficient to obtain a short integration under photometric conditions (transparency = PHOT) and carry out the rest of the integration with OBs having a transparency = CLR constraint.
    

     

Standard Calibration Plan

We take care of the standard calibration OBs (defined in the table below): you don't have to define OBs for these (but you can), and you don't have to take them into account when computing your total time. Just mention in your README file (see below) that you want standard calibrations. If you want more calibrations, or specific calibrations, you will have to prepare the corresponding OBs, and the night-time calibrations will be charged on your time credit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
STANDARD CALIBRATION PLAN
------------------------------------------------------------------------------      
+ Common:
  we take care of all the "technical" OBs, including setup, focus...

+ Visible Imaging (SuSI2, EMMI, EFOSC2):
  - Biases, Twilight Flats (if possible, priority given to standard
    filters) or Dome Flat fields. 
  - At least 2 Landolt Standard star fields at different airmasses
    during the night, if it is photometric        

+ Visible Spectroscopy (EMMI, EFOSC, FEROS, CES, HARPS):
  -   Biases, Dome Flats, day-time wavelength calibration frames.
  -   1 spectrophotometric standard star with broad slit during the night 
     (radial velocity, line profile, and other exotic standards are NOT
     part of the calibration plan and have to be provided).

+ SofI Infrared Imaging: 
  -  "Special Dome Flats" (cf manual) 
  -  2 photometric standard stars during the night 
    (polarimetric standards are not part of the standard calib.plan).
+ SofI Infrared Spectroscopy:
  -  Dome flats, wavelength calibration
  - 1 Hip standard stars during the night.

+ TIMMI2:
  - no standard calibration plan - specify what you need.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

In case of doubt, please consult your support astronomer. Note that User-supplied Calibration OBs are executed only once. This is valid both for the "on-sky" calibrations (i.e. those with a specified target) and the "dome" calibrations (flats, arcs...).

Total time and overheads

IMPORTANT NOTE: The total time of your OBs must not be larger than the time allocated to your program. This includes the total exposure time, plus overhead. Below is table giving some guidelines for computing the overhead; the "report" function of P2PP is not to be trusted.

   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
Overheads
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
     ACTION                              OVERHEAD 

     Pointing, simple                     2 min per pointing 
  or Pointing, with special acquisition 
       such as move to slit:              4 min per pointing 
                                        
     Exposure:
         EMMI Red:                        1 min per frame
         EMMI Blue:                       2 min per frame
         SuSI:                            1 min per frame
	 EFOSC:	                          2 min per frame
	 CES                              1 min per frame
	 HARPS:                           35s   per frame
	 FEROS:				  4 min per frame

	 SofI Imaging:                    +30% of total exposure time 
                                          approx, OR
                                          = 1.25s per DIT + 1 DIT per NDIT

         SofI spectroscopy:               +15% of tot.exp.time

         TIMMI:                           +50% of exp.time
         
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While completing the P2PP process, you may find the following tools useful:

• ESO Exposure Time Calculators: http://www.eso.org/observing/etc
• Various User Support Tools found on the User Support Services and Tools page: http://www.eso.org/observing/support.html
• ESO Archive home page: http://archive.eso.org

When you are done with the preparation of your OBs, select them all, and check them in (File > Check In). This will send them to the Repository at ESO. In your P2PP, they will appear padlocked, and will be in "read only" mode. If you change your mind, you have first to "check out" the OB before editing it. Doing so, it will be removed from the Repository, and therefore not be available for execution: you will have to check it in again.

Note that this is not optional: you have to check your OBs in, using the [file] > [Check-in] system, otherwise we will not have them, and your program will not be executed. The old way (sending the OBs via email) is not available anymore.

• 7-Create the finding charts

  We DO NEED ONE finding chart per target. These finding charts MUST have the all following characteristics:
  • finding charts should be created as Postscript files, Level 2 or higher. (The Postscript level is given on the first line of each Postscript file. FITS, GIF, JPEG, or any other format will be rejected)
  • clearly indicate the ESO Observing Run ID (72.A-1234 or so)
  • clearly indicate the PI Name
  • clearly indicate the OB Name or Target Name, as used in the associated OB.
  • the entire instrument field-of-view must be shown, but no more than ~2x the field-of-view. If relevant, the target(s) position(s) must be clearly indicated
  • North and East must be clearly indicated
  • the scale must be indicated by drawing a bar and writing the bar length in arcseconds or arcminutes, or indicating the size of the field
  • the images should be negative, i.e. images should be dark and the background should be light
  • whenever possible, finding charts should have similar wavelength to observations (e.g. DSS charts are often inappropriate for near-IR observations - this can be very problematic for spectroscopy in crowded fields). For non-DSS charts, the wavelength or filter must be indicated.
  • positions of spectroscopic acquisition reference stars must be marked
  • if appropriate, spectroscopic finding charts must indicate the slit position(s) clearly
  • when appropriate (for example, faint objects near sky background), spectroscopic programmes should submit TWO finding charts: (1) full instrument field; and (2) magnified image identifying spectroscopic targets
  • The finding chart file must be named using the following convention: 72.A-1234.001.ps, where 72.A-1234 is replaced by your program ID, and 001 is a sequence number.

  The reason for these very constraining rules is that all the finders will be printed in advance. A finder without these information will be unidentified, lost and therefore useless.

  The only exception to this rule is the ToO observations for which the target is not yet known.

  If you *really* feel a finder is not needed for your program, you can try to convince your support astronomer, but it is very probable that it will take you less effort to generate the finders than to get permission not to provide them...

  To create the finders (i.e. get a DSS image and write on it), you may find skycat useful. You can find it at http://archive.eso.org . Note that a very nice "plug-in" is available for skycat, designed to make "Service Observing compliant" finding charts. Information can be found at http://www.eso.org/observing/p2pp/P2PP-FC-cookbook.html

• 8-fill in a README file

  README files must follow the format given in the README template, or in the README example.

  If you have more than one program accepted, please submit one README file per program. A possible exception to this is if the two programs are subsets of a same program (eg. 68.A-0123(A) and 68.A-0123(B)) on the same instrument.

  This README file should be be named using the ESO Observing Run ID as follows: ESO_OBSERVING_RUNID.README. Example: 68.A-0123A.README

  The README file has the following sections:

  • Header - basic identification information (ESO Programme ID, PI, etc). Please provide an estimate of total execution time for your programme, including all operations overheads.
  • Programme Description - a brief description of the submitted OBs, how you wish them to be executed, and any other technical information you think would help us execute your programme properly (e.g. suggested sequencing of science and calibration OBs).

  Specific sub-sections are:

  • General Overview - short summary of observing programme, providing ESO with any information needed to met your science objective. Decision paths and/or OB modification requests which depending on the outcome of previously executed OBs are normally not allowed.
  • Critical Observing Condition Constraints - any critical information about required observing conditions
  • Time Critical Aspects - if your OBs must be executed within specific time windows or in some time specific sequence, please describe those constraints here. For the programs in "delegated service mode", which have a given night allocated: it is a good idea to remind it here.
  • Special Calibration Information - if you have submitted calibration OBs, please describe them here, why you have submitted them, and how they should be executed relative to your science OBs (e.g. same night, once per observing run, etc.). In particular, you MUST provide the magnitude and spectral type for all user supplied photometric or spectrophotometric calibration stars.
  • ToO Information - please indicate that this is a Target of Opportunity programme and give any special details
  • Pre-Imaging Requirements - if some of your OBs are pre-imaging OBs for the rest of your OBs, please give details here.
  • OB Information - some details about what you have submitted including:
    • Number of submitted OBs and finding charts
    • Association of Calibration OBs with Science OBs (see example).
  • Destination Address for Data Products - if your OBs are executed, any resultant data will be shipped to this address on CD-ROM diskWs.

• 9-Prepare your Information package

  that will contain all the information to be sent to SciOp; we suggest you create a directory for that purpose, e.g. NTT_72.A-0123A.
  • Include all the finding chart *.ps files - include the 72.A-0123A.README file
  • create a TAR file of the directory. Name this file after your program ID. From the directory above SO_NTT, type:
    tar cvf NTT_72.A-0123A.tar NTT_72.A-0123A
    It may be a good idea to compress the resulting file:
    gzip NTT_72.A-0123A.tar
  • ftp the resulting file to ESO
    • ftp ftp.eso.org
    • user: anonymous
    • password: your email address
    • cd /incoming/general (note that you are allowed to write in that area, but not to read)
    • bin
    • put NTT_72.A-0123A.tar.gz
    • quit
  • Notify SciOp (lasilla@eso.org) and your support astronomer that you transfered your Information Package, mentioning the name of the file you put on ftp.eso.org. If you don't, your Phase II is not considered as submitted.

• 10- Acknowledgement

  Wait for the acknowledgement from your support astronomer. He will check your OBs and will possibly suggest you some changes. When everything is done, your OBs will be marked at "ready for execution" in the repository. If you check them out, they will disappear from the repository, and will not be scheduled.
  As long as you did not get an "OK" from your support astronomer, the OBs are NOT schedulled and will not be executed.

• 11-We will notify you when the program is complete, and send you the data.

Sorry to be so directive, but this is the only way for us to get all the information we need to execute your observations.

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