JCMT  PI  INSTRUCTIONS FOR  SEMESTER 08A

Associate Director's Letter to PIs

Contents:

1. Time Allocation
   • Allocations
   • Schedule
   • Flexible scheduling
   • Friend of the Project and Support Scientists
   • PI reports
2. Submission of Science Programmes
3. Logistical Information for Visiting Observers
   • Travel, accommodation, medical disclaimer, transport
   • Arrival at the JAC
   • Smoking Policy
   • Observing shifts and TSSs
   • Extended observing
   • Observer's reports
   • Observer seminars
   • Exit interviews
   • Publishing your data, and acknowledgements

1. Time Allocation

1.1. Allocations

The allocations for semester 08A can be viewed here. Note that all allocations in 08A are subject to override by engineering and commissioning requirements. Note also that this list is not in priority order. PIs will be notified if they are required to provide observers at the telescope.

Along with the allocation for your project, you will find the name of your "Friend of the Project" (FoP - see section 1.4 below). If you need assistance/advice/information regarding your project, your FoP is the first person to contact.

1.2. Schedule

Semester 08A will start on the evening of January 28, 2008, and run through to the end of July. Because of the uncertain delivery date for SCUBA-2, the telescope schedule for the early part of the semester will probably only be assembled 1-2 months in advance. Check the schedules web page at www.jach.hawaii.edu/JCMT/schedules/. PIs will be notified as soon as their projects appear on the schedule. For further information or requests, please contact your FoP or the telescope scheduler, Gerald Schieven.

1.3. Flexible scheduling

All three partner countries have now adopted queue-based flexible scheduling. Time has been allocated to each country in blocks according to target availability and operational constraints. The partner communities must provide at least one observer for each scheduled night. For UK and International projects, the PI of the scheduled project must provide an observer; for Canada, the Netherlands, and the University of Hawaii, the JAC or UH queue managers will liaise with the PIs to ensure that visiting observers are identified.

1.4. Friend of the Project and Support Scientist

A JAC staff astronomer has been assigned to every observing project; see the allocations page for details. The title for this role is "Friend of the Project (FoP)". The FoP will be your primary point of contact with the JAC for any inquiries regarding your project. I encourage you to make full use of your FoP throughout the planning, observing and data analysis phases of your programme: they are a valuable resource and are available to help you, the PI, realise your scientific goals.

ALL communications regarding a project should now be carried out via the OMP feedback pages rather than by direct emails with the assigned FoP. This will ensure that all information is available to all who may become involved (TSS, other staff), and that a complete history of each project is recorded.

In addition, a JAC staff astronomer will also be assigned to support every observing run. The title for this role is "Support Scientist". If you come to the telescope as an observer, your assigned support scientist may or may not be the same person as your FoP. Your support scientist is your JAC point of contact for all logistical arrangements concerning your observing run. You will be informed of your support scientist when your bookings (see section 3.1 below) are acknowledged, or you can ask your FoP or the scheduler (Gerald Schieven). You are strongly encouraged to liase with your Support Astronomer and/or FoP before you make your travel arrangements.

1.5. PI reports

Under flexible scheduling, programmes will often be completed without the PI being present at the telescope. PIs are asked to complete web-based reports on the quality of their data and the scientific results at the end of the semester or when their projects reach >95% completion.

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2. Submission of Science Programmes

All science programmes must be prepared and submitted using our observation preparation tool, the JCMT-OT (OT). A new version of the OT will be released early December. It is recommended that you install the newest version of the OT before creating and uploading MSBs. Instructions for downloading and installing the JCMT-OT software, and help in creating MSBs, can be found here.

The JAC will not track or enforce the submission of science programmes. It is the PI's responsibility to ensure that the science programme is submitted in good time. Indeed, the earlier it is in the queue, the greater the chance of your project being observed. Conversely the penalty, if your programme is not submitted in time, is that it may not be observed. Please note also that you may revise your science programmes at any time.

Under flexible scheduling, there is a high probability that your programme will be carried out at a time when you are not present at the telescope. The science programme must therefore be completed with sufficient accuracy and detail that the observations can be conducted without direct consultation with you or with any of your collaborators. You will be alerted at the end of the shift when data are taken for you, and the data will be available to you within 24 hours. Note that by default, only the PI will be alerted when new data are taken. If you wish one or more of your co-Investigators to receive these emails, please consult with your FoP, or go to the OMP web pages and update the mailing list for your project yourself.

PIs are strongly advised to inspect their data promptly. The PI (and co-Is who are email-enabled (see above paragraph)) will receive an email alert that data were taken the previous evening, and will give a link to the the OMP feedback pages for the project, on which will be a link enabling the PI/co-I to download the data. (Note that the data archive is now maintained at the CADC, and it is necessary to have a CADC account in order to retrieve the data. Please let your FoP know what your CADC username is, so your username can be associated with your data.)

A close feedback cycle with PIs is one of the cornerstones of the flexible observing strategy at the JCMT, both to maximise the scientific return from the programme and as a quality check on the data. The OT and the OMP feedback pages provide PIs with the means to make immediate changes to their programme when justified.

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3. Logistical Information for Visiting Observers

3.1. Travel, accommodation, medical disclaimer, transport

3.2. Upon arrival at the JAC

All observers must receive a safety briefing before proceeding to the summit. This is mandatory and will take place on each visit, even for experienced observers.

3.3. Smoking Policy

The JAC maintains a strict no smoking policy in all of its vehicles and buildings. In addition, as of 16 November 2006, Hawaii State law also prohibits smoking within 20' (about 6m) of any building entrance or ventilation air intake. At the JCMT this means that anyone wishing to smoke will have to stand at least 20' away from the entrance to the carport. (Brrr!)

3.4. Observing shifts and TSSs

During observing, the TSS is responsible for the safety of the facility and the observers, and has complete authority in this respect.

The TSS will be familiar with all aspects of the operations of the telescope and its instrumentation. In the spirit of raising awareness and motivation, it would be good practice to give the TSS(s) an overview of the science you are hoping to do and to discuss with them the modes of observation you will be undertaking - such as spectral scanning, line mapping, continuum mapping etc.

3.5. Extended observing

Because of the 12-hour shift and for safety reasons, extended observing, i.e. for longer than 12 hours, will not be permitted.

3.6. Observer's reports

All visiting observers must complete an observer's report at the conclusion of their run. This provides valuable information to the JAC staff regarding the use of time and problems unearthed. The TSS will remind you of this and will direct you to the web-based form.

End-of-night reports are the responsibility of the TSS.

3.7. Observer presentations

All visiting observers are invited to make a short presentation at the JAC before ascending to HP. Specifically, we would like a 15-minute presentation on your observing project: scientific rationale, previous work, observing strategy, etc. The benefits to both observer and JAC staff are considerable. You will be contacted by your assigned support scientist before your arrival to confirm arrangements for this.

Full seminars or colloquia are also welcome.

3.8. Exit interviews

All visiting observers are invited, at the conclusion of their observing runs, to see me at the JAC before leaving the island. I would like to hear how your run went and how we can improve the operation of the facility.

3.9 Publishing your data, and acknowledgements

Naturally we hope that your JCMT data will result in a timely publication. In order to assist us in tracking the productivity of the telescopes and instruments, we would greatly appreciate if you would include, in your paper, a list of the project IDs of the data used in the publication (i.e. M07BU99, M06AI15, etc.), and please use the standard acknowledgement which you can find here.

Please also let us know when your publication has been accepted by a refereed journal!

Antonio Chrysostomou
Associate Director, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope

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