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WIYN Observing Information

IU WIYN Time Allocation and Usage Guidelines
3.5-m and 0.9-m Telescopes

Please read over these guidelines before completing the time allocation request form. These guidelines were last revised on 20 October 2004.

IU Telescope Time Allocation Guidelines

  1. All Time Allocation Requests must be submitted by an eligible investigator from the IU-Bloomington Department of Astronomy. Investigators eligible to apply for 3.5-m time include faculty (including emeritus faculty), research scientists, and postdocs. All astronomy and astrophysics graduate students are also eligible to submit proposals for observing time on the WIYN 0.9-m telescope.

  2. All allocations of IU WIYN time will be made through the IU WIYN Time Allocation Committee (TAC).

  3. Proposals for telescope time should comprise one coherent project addressing a specific scientific question. Proposals may include requests for multiple runs or instruments.

  4. Investigators applying for WIYN time should be cognizant of the number of nights available and their lunar phase and calendar distribution. Requests for telescope time should be reasonable in light of the available resources.

  5. The TAC may consider the following criteria, among others, in recommending allocations of telescope time:
    • The scientific significance of the project in the context both of the specific field and of astronomy as a whole.
    • Technical feasibility
    • Education and training of students, particularly Ph. D. theses
    • The likelihood of completion and publication
    • The importance of the proposed observations for completion of a project
    • Pre-tenure faculty status
    • Usage of available telescope time
    • Fairness in distributing the available telescope time among investigators.
  6. The TAC will inform investigators of the proposed allocations prior to submission to WIYN. Investigators may appeal recommendations to the Chair of the TAC, or to the Department Chair.

IU Telescope Time Usage Guidelines

  1. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (first PI if more than one; first team scheduled if the run is split) to provide the Observing Preparation Form by the required date. Failure to adhere to this simple request is so disruptive to WIYN operations that the IU TAC will take the PI's performance in this regard into account when making subsequent allocations.
  2. Persons who are observing on a given night have the right to use the associated WIYN house that night and the following morning and are not required to negotiate other arrangements with other WIYN observers. An exception is that during some summer intervals, NOAO uses the WIYN house by long-term prior arrangement with WIYN. In that case, NOAO pays for dorm rooms for the WIYN observer who would otherwise have used the WIYN house.
  3. Generally, the WIYN houses may not be occupied by male and female residents at the same time. Exceptions include married couples, astronomers from outside IU who are collaborating with IU faculty at the discretion of the IU faculty member, and groups of students when the house is not occupied by an IU faculty member.
  4. The department will generally fund a graduate student's first trip to WIYN as an educational expense. Subsequent WIYN travel is generally expected to be borne by grants. The department sometimes has additional funds for WIYN travel but it is quite limited and erratic, and should be requested only when other avenues have been thoroughly exhausted.