EVN Call For Proposals

European VLBI Network -- Call for Proposals
Deadline 1 June 2008

ALL EVN and GLOBAL PROPOSALS must now be submitted with the ONLINE PROPOSAL SUBMISSION tool Northstar.

Email submission is no longer accepted

Observing proposals are invited for the EVN, a VLBI network of radio telescopes spread throughout Europe and beyond, operated by an international Consortium of institutes.

The EVN is open to all astronomers. Use of the Network by astronomers not specialised in the VLBI technique is encouraged.

The Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE) can provide support and advice on project preparation, scheduling, correlation and analysis.

EVN Observing Sessions in 2008-2009

2008 Session 3	Oct 16 - Nov 06	18/21cm, 6cm, 1.3cm (+ possibly 3.6cm, 7mm)
2009 Session 1	Feb 26 - Mar 19	18/21cm, 6cm, 5cm, +...
2009 Session 2	May 28 - Jun 18	18/21cm, 6cm, +...

Proposals received by 1 June 2008 will be considered for scheduling in Session 3, 2008 or later. Finalisation of the planned observing wavelengths will depend on proposal pressure. Other wavelengths which may be scheduled in 2008-2009 are 90cm, 50cm, 30cm and S/X.

Special features for Sessions in 2008-2009

Proposals at 1.3 cm and 7 mm are encouraged as these frequencies are likely to be available in Session 3, 2008.
In addition, e-VLBI observing opportunities with a recording rate of 512 Mb/s and at least a 7-station array, including Effelsberg, are available during additional 24-hour slots in September, November, and December 2008. See the e-VLBI Call for Proposals for further details.
Target of Opportunity (ToO) proposals in response to a high-priority unanticipated astronomical event may be submitted at any time for observations at any time, inside or outside scheduled EVN sessions. See the EVN ToO policy for a description of the procedures to apply for such ToO observing time.
MERLIN is now available for joint EVN+MERLIN observations in all sessions, for any EVN wavelengths which MERLIN supports (18/21cm, 6/5cm, 1.3cm). However, limited resources during e-MERLIN construction mean that joint EVN+MERLIN will be scheduled at no more than two of these bands (usually 18/21cm and 5/6cm) in any one session.

Large projects

Most proposals request 12-48hrs observing time. The EVN Program Committee (PC) also encourages larger projects (>48 hrs); these will be subject to more detailed scrutiny, and the EVN PC may, in some cases, attach conditions on the release of the data.

How to submit

The on-line proposal submission tool Northstar now replaces the old Latex-email way of submission for all EVN and Global proposals (except ToO proposals); EMAIL PROPOSAL SUBMISSION IS NOT POSSIBLE ANYMORE.Global proposals will be forwarded to NRAO automatically and do not need to be submitted to NRAO separately.

To use Northstar, people should register (only for the first proposal submission), enter the information about the investigators and the technical specifications of the proposed observations (equivalent to that previously in the coversheet) using the on-line forms, and upload a scientific justification in pdf or ps format. The scientific justification should be limited to 2 pages in length. Up to 2 additional pages with diagrams may be included. The deadline for submission is 23:59:59 UTC on 1 June 2008.

Additional information

The detailed Call for Proposals has further information on Global VLBI, EVN+MERLIN and guidelines for proposal submission.

The EVN User Guide describes the network and provides general information on its capabilities.

The EVN Status Table gives current antenna capabilities.

The On-line VLBI catalogue lists sources observed by the EVN and Global VLBI.

European VLBI Network -- Call for Proposals Deadline 1 June 2008