Tutorial

・How to make a proposal sheet. 

STEP1: Download an Excel file

  First, please download an Excel file from the Home page(Fig1). Clicking on "Please download it from here." will automatically download it.

Fig1: Home. You can download the template file from the Home

STEP2: Make a proposal sheet with the Excel file

 Open the Excel file downloaded. Please see examples to fill each cell in the "example" sheet(Fig2). Each item is explained below.

Fig2: The example sheet of the proposal template Excel file for PRIME

Caution:

Please fill in RA, DEC, RAoffset, DECoffset, DitherRadius, DitherPhase, DitherTotal, and Images with a number. （Do not leave blank.）

• Observer(PI institute)

Please select your affiliation(OU, NASA, ABC, SAAO) from the drop-down list.

 When PRIME does the microlens survey, GB is filled in this column.

*OU: Osaka University, ABC: Astrobiology Center

•  GridType

Please select "all_sky_grid", "Bulge_grid", or "no_grid" from the drop-down list. 

If you select "all_sky_grid",  the optimal all_sky_grid field is decided using Target RA and DEC information automatically when the proposal sheet is reshaped to the script for observation. We recommend "all_sky_grid" unless strongly requested because you can use past data for reference, etc. 

If you select "Bulge_grid", the optimal bulge_grid field is decided using Target RA and DEC information automatically when the proposal sheet is reshaped to the script for observation.

If you select "no_grid", you can set an arbitrary position of target. 

You can check your target position and all_sky_grid near your target with the "Grid field check tool", which is linked on the Home page. 

*all_sky_grid: These are predetermined observation fields in which the entire sky is divided by the PRIME field of view. PRIME is filling all_sky_grid fields in the non-bulge time.  (See http://primeenv.saao.ac.za/PRIME_ALL_SKY_GRID.pdf) 

*Bulge_grid (GB field): These are predetermined observation fields in which the galactic bulge is divided by the PRIME field of view. PRIME observes Bulge grid repeatedly in the bulge time.

• ObjectType

Please decide "GridType" before "ObjectType"!

Please select your observation type(Sky, GCsky, Bulge, ToO, all_sky_grid, GO) from the drop-down list.

GO: General Observation, Sky: for the general sky, GCsky: the specific sky field for the Galactic Center
Note: Most observations toward the sparse fields use the so called self-sky (using the dithering). In that case, the Sky observations is not necessarily needed.

• FieldName

If you select all_sky_grid or bulge_grid in "GridType", you must check the optimal grid field using the "Grid field check tool" and set the optimal grid field name. This item is used to prevent mismatches between the grid field you assume and the grid field actually observed.

• Example

GB126

field21399

• TargetRA & TargetDEC

Please set your target object's RA [hh:mm:ss] and DEC [dd:mm:ss].

• RAoffset &  DECoffset

Please set the detector RA offset value and DEC offset value [arcsecond]. 

If the target is in the corner of a chip, typically the detector can be shifted RAoffset = (+-)1000 arcsecond, DECoffset = (+-)1000 arcsecond to introduce the target in the center of each chip.

If you have no specific reason, you should set offset values to introduce a target in the center of chip3 (RAoffset = 1000, DECoffset = 1000), chip2(RAoffset = -1000, DECoffset = -1000) or chip1 (RAoffset= 1000, DECoffset = -1000). Generally, the sensitivity is almost same for chip1, 2 and 3, but chip4 has slightly worse sensitivity as it has more hot/warm pixels. So it is recommended to avoid to put your target on chip4.

• ROToffset

Please set the detector rotator offset value from -180 to 180 [degree]. 

If you select all_sky_grid in "GridType", the detector's x and y axes follow RA and DEC axes, basically. When you set a non-zero "ROToffset" value, the detector rotates by "ROToffset" value from axes following RA and DEC axes.

If you select Bulge_grid in "GridType", the detector's x and y axes follow galactic latitude and galactic longitude axes, basically. When you set a non-zero "ROToffset" value, the detector rotates by "ROToffset" value from axes following galactic latitude and galactic longitude axes.

If you select no_grid in "GridType", the detector's x and y axes follow RA and DEC axes, basically. When you set a non-zero "ROToffset" value, the detector rotates by "ROToffset" value from axes following RA and DEC axes.

• Filter1 & Filter2

Please select filter1(Open, Z, NB, Dark) and filter2(Open, Y, J, H)  from each drop-down list. 

PRIME-Cam has two filter wheels and you must choose the optimal filter in each filter wheel for your observation. 

• Example

(Filter1, Filter2)=(Open, H) -> H-band observation

(Filter1, Filter2)=(NB, H) -> Narrow-H observation

*Open: blank, NB: Narrow-band, Dark: shutter

• DitherType

Please select the dithering type(None, Circle, Random)  from the drop-down list. 

• If you choose "None", the dithering will not be conducted in the observation. 

• If you choose "Circle", the dithering will be conducted roundly on the circumference of a circle with the radius defined by DitherRadius. 

• If you choose "Random", the dithering will be conducted in random positions in a circle with the radius defined by DitherRadius. 

• DitherRadius

Please set the dithering radius [arcsecond]. 

• DitherPhase

Please set the dithering phase [degree].

This parameter can be used only when you set "Circle" on DitherType. DitherPhase is the item that specifies the starting angle of the dithering. You should set zero-value on here unless strongly requested.

• DitherTotal

Please set the number of total dithering.  A non-zero value is requested.

If you set "Circle" on DitherType, "0" on DitherPhase, and "6" on DitherTotal, the dithering image will be taken every 60 degrees from 0 degrees. 

• Images 

Please set the number of images. A non-zero value is requested.

• If you set "12" on DitherTotal and "1" on Images, only one image will be taken on each dithering spot. You will get 12 images in total. 

• If you set "6" on DitherTotal and "2" on Images, two images will be taken on each dithering spot. You will get 12 images in total.

• IntegrationTime

Please set the exposure time [second] from the drop down list. 

In practice, PRIME reads out data every 2.86 seconds in a non-destructive way. Hence, the effective exposure time is always a multiple of 2.86 seconds. 

If you set "12" on Images and set "11.44" here, you will get 137.28 seconds of exposure time in total. 

Figure3 can support your selection of optimal DitherTotal, Images, and IntegrationTime.

• PIName

Please set the PI name. Do not use commas (,).

• TargetName

Please set the target name. Do not use commas (,).

Do not use the string "test" (regardless of case)!!

• SpecificTime

Please set a time specification of the target [UTC]. If not, do not fill here.

"UTC_hh:mm_hh:mm_DD/MM/YYYY"

h: hour, m: minute, D: Day, M: Month, Y: Year 

• Example (updated, 13/10/2024)

If you want to observe the target from 01:00 01/04/2024 to 02:00 01/04/2024, then you should fill in 

"UTC_01:00_02:00_01/04/2024 ".

If you want to observe the target from 23:00 01/04/2024 to 01:00 02/04/2024, then you should fill in 

"UTC_23:00_01:00_01/04/2024 ".

• Priority

Please select a priority of your target from the drop-down list.

If you select "High", that target is preferentially observed.

• Comment

Please set your arbitrary comments. Do not use commas (,).

• Example

Reasons why you select "no-grid".

Reasons why you set DitherPhase except zero-value.

STEP3: Convert the proposal sheet format from ".xlsx" to ".csv" 

 Please convert the proposal sheet format from ".xlsx" to ".csv" if you use the proposal sheet template Excel file. When you complete and save your proposal sheet Excel file, select ".csv" format (The warning will appear, please ignore it.) .

*Please select "CSV UTF-8 (.csv)" format!!

・Submission proposal sheets

Click "Please submit your proposal sheets here." and jump to Google form for submission proposal sheet. After filling in the required information, please attach your proposal sheet and send the form. If you send a lot of proposal sheets at once, please put them together in a .zip file.

• Important point

1. Limitations on the format of proposals

Please attach only .csv or .zip format file. 

2. Limitations on proposal file name

Please name your proposal sheet as PI's name + date(DD/MM/YY) of submission and also name .zip file as the name of the representative of submission + date(DD/MM/YY) of submission.

• Example

HibikiYama_01042024.csv

HibikiYama_01042024.zip

3. Submission of revised version

If you are submitting a revised version of a proposal once submitted, please submit it under the same name as the original proposal.