OPTICON Trans-national Access Programme

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OPTICONTrans-national Access Programme

• under the auspices of the European Commission

MID TERM REVIEW
Corfú, September 2007
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OPTICON Access Programme

• Objective Widen access to all European
  telescopes of 2m aperture which have state of
  the art instrumentation.
• Special emphasis on new users, especially those
  from CEE countries.

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Proposal and Contract

• Initial proposal was for 25 telescopes/2555
  nights-days
• After contract negotiations 22 reduced to
  telescopes.
• Immediate concern was that we could not meet
  likely demand.
• Special additional conditions for qualifying
  proposals agreed at first TDF.

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OPTICON Access Programme General Overview

• 17 institutions involved (OPTICON partners)
• 18 optical-infrared telescopes (between 1.5 4m
  aperture)
• 4 solar telescopes
• Commencement date and duration
• 1st January 2004 , 60 months
• External users are welcome to apply for observing
  time
• Free access to each of these 22 European operated
  telescopes
• Scientific, technical and logistic support
• Travel and subsistence grants
• Standard selection procedures
• Scientific merits and feasibility

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OPTICON Access Programme General Overview

• Approx. 1200 observing nights/days
• 630 users, 400 observing runs, 400 - 500 TS
  grants.
• Usual deadlines and application forms/procedures.
• New users, young researchers and users from
  countries with no similar facilities are strongly
  encouraged to apply.
• OPTICON Trans-national Access Office
• Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

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OPTICON Access Programme Observatories
Obs. Saint-Michel
Obs. Pic du Midi
Calar Alto
Obs. Helmos, Kalavryta
Canary Islands (OT ORM)
Mauna Kea Hawaii
La Silla Chile
Anglo-Australian Observatory
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18 night-time and 4 solar telescopes
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After first 18 Months

• 409/1188 observing periods supported equivalent
  to 35 of available budget in just 2 semesters
• Prediction was that 5 year budget would be
  expended by middle of year 3 which was
  unacceptable to TDF and OPTICON board.
• Not all qualifying nights supported in years 2
  and 3 to return spend to roughly flat profile
  over 5 years
• ?Limited number of nights at each telescope each
  year

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Situation by late 2006

• Due to these strict controls most telescopes were
  close to 60 of the contracted access by mid
  2006, restoring the flat spend profile.
• There were a few, well understood exceptions (eg
  LT, Aristarchos, ESO 3.5, TBL)
• The September 2006 TDF rebalanced some
  allocations to achieve 80-90 commitment at most
  telescopes by end 2007.

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Provisional situation by August 2007
Most of the telescopes have already surpassed the
80 of allocation time
LT, Aristarchos, ESO 3.5m and ESO3.6m present a
considerable delay
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Provisional situation by 2007
Last three observing campaigns show a significant
oversubscription rate for the OPTICON Access
Programme
Satisfactory participation of researchers form
Central and Eastern European countries
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Provisional situation by 2007
New Observers and Young researchers
New Observers 2004- 2007
Young researchers 2004- 2007
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OPTICON
Trans-national Access Programme
Relevant results (I)
Nr. of users / Telescope
1088 astronomers
January 2004 December 2007
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Accumulative results(2004 - 2007)

• 69,84 - of the total amount of access to be
  provided under the contract.
• 1088 users (members of observing teams).
• 211 travel and subsistence grants (plus an extra
  9 of user groups pending of select their
  observers)
• 57 new observers

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Future Plans

• October 2007 TDF will make final rebalancing to
  ensure contract obligations are met.
• Unused travel and Access Office funds (if any)
  will be converted into extra access.
• New Access programme will be defined for FP7
  building on strengths of FP6 experience.