e-MERLIN / VLBI National Radio Astronomy Facility

e-MERLIN

e-MERLIN/VLBI National Facility

CALL FOR e-MERLIN PROPOSALS - Cycle-0 (Semester 2012A)

e-MERLIN is now open to proposals from the international astronomical community. Proposals are competitively peer-reviewed under standard STFC rules by the PATT e-MERLIN Time allocation Committee. Allocation will be made on the basis of scientific merit and technical feasibility alone. During the first 5 semesters of e-MERLIN operations ~50% of observing time has been allocated to 12 large legacy projects and most of the remaining time will be allocated via PATT to standard proposals solicited prior to each observing semester.

e-MERLIN provides high resolution (40-150mas) and high sensitivity (~6-12 uJy in this cycle-0) imaging at cm wavelengths as well as polarimetry, spectroscopy and astrometry. Shared-risk 'Cycle-0' observations will start in February 2012, with some limitations in observing capabilities.

During semester 12A, some commissioning and development work may still take place. Shared risk observations will be carried out on a best-effort basis, but essential system work will take priority over PATT observations. The continuum bandwidth at C-band is currently limited to 512MHz. The full 2GHz bandwidth will not become available until a later semester.

Semester 12A Observations (e-MERLIN Cycle-0) : February - July 2012
Deadline for Receipt of Proposals - 23:59:59 UT on 26th January 2012


L-Band: 1.23GHz to 1.74GHz
C-Band: 4.5GHz to 7.5GHz

The system parameters for observation of a continuum source in optimum conditions are:-

1.23-1.74 GHz
(L-band)
4.3-7.5 GHz
(C-band)
Maximum angular resolution ~150 ~40 (milliarcsec)
RMS level for 12 hr on source ~12/6** ~13/7** (uJy/bm)
Maximum bandwidth/polarization ~300 512 (MHz)

Proposals should be submitted via the e-MERLIN Web-based Proposal Tool.The proposal tool will be open for proposal submissions from January 11th 2012

http://www.e-merlin.ac.uk/observe/northstar.html

See notes below:


e-MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, The University of Manchester,
Jodrell Bank Observatory,
Macclesfield,
Cheshire SK11 9DL,
United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0)1477 571321,
Facsimile: +44 (0)1477 571618,
Email:emerlin@jb.man.ac.uk