Standard Call for Semester 2018-S1
Semester Information
| Semester start of observing | 2018-01-02 05:00 UT |
|---|---|
| Semester end of observing | 2018-07-01 05:00 UT |
The Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano (LMT) invites members of the Mexican astronomy community and members of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts and the Five College Astronomy Department to participate in the call for scientific observing proposals (2018-S1). This Call for Proposals will be the first opportunity presented to the LMT community to take advantage of the upgraded LMT following the expansion of the primary reflector from 32-meters diameter, during the earlier operational configuration of the telescope (2014-2017), to the full-size diameter of 50-meters.
The selection of science projects will follow a peer-review process to be organized by the LMT Scientific Committee (LMTSC). Successful proposals will result in a set of approved Scientific Project Teams. The selection criteria for approved scientific projects is similar to the previous Early Science calls, and will be based on the potential of the proposals to satisfy some or all of the following goals:
1. feasible projects that can be completed by the Scientific Project Teams within the current range of uncertainties on the telescope and instrument performances;
2. generate refereed journal publications that demonstrate the scientific impact of the LMT with an emphasis on research topics for which the telescope provides a unique capability with the initial suite of instrumentation (angular resolution, sensitivity, mapping speed, spectral coverage, etc.);
3. scientific analysis and interpretation of the LMT data that can lead directly to publishable results, and do not require additional supporting observations that are currently unavailable;
4. involvement and training of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, as well as demonstrations of the relevance of these LMT data to on-going MSc and PhD student research programs;
5. scientific collaboration between the research communities of the LMT partners;
6. provide opportunities and material for immediate educational and public outreach purposes.
This Announcement of Opportunity (2018-S1) for scientific observations with the 50-meter LMT is released on September 15th, 2017. The deadline to receive proposals is midnight central daylight time (24:00 CDT) on 31st October 2017. The provisional schedule for conducting scientific observations with the 50-meter LMT will provide an operational period from 1st January to 30th June 2018, during which shared-risk commissioning and scientific observations will be restricted to a night-time shift of 8 - 9 hours lasting from approximately 1 hour after sunset to sunrise.