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Basic Science

Basic Science proposers: please make sure you have the latest version (2010.04) of the SOFIA Proposal Tool (SPT). (The version number is shown on the "About SPT" page accessible from the "SPT" menu.)

Download the Basic Science Call for Proposals

Simple proposal templates
LaTeX
MS Word

SOFIA Observer's Handbook for Basic Science: v1.1.0
(This version contains critical updates - do not use earlier versions of the Handbook.)

Observing Moving Targets during Basic Science
(This white paper is a supplement to the Observer's Handbook.)

Reserved Observations Catalogs (ROCs)

Note: summary tables containing the basic information about the reserved targets are included as appendices in the Call for Proposals. The catalogs contain more detailed information about the observations.

FORCAST ROC
GREAT ROC

Instruments

For Basic Science, two instruments will be available: FORCAST, a mid-IR camera operating in the 5-40 micron range and GREAT, a heterodyne spectrometer operating in the 60-200 micron range. These instruments are described in detail in the "1st Generation Instrument" pages. However, the instrument capabilities available for Basic Science and all details relevant to the proposal are to be found in the Observer's Handbook and in references therein. A summary of the instrument properties are in the pages linked below.

FORCAST

GREAT

The Calibration Plan for SOFIA Early Science outlines the procedures for flux calibration during Basic Science developed by the SMO staff Calibration Working Group.

Proposal Tools, Tutorials, and other Documents

SOFIA Proposal Tool (SPT)

All proposals are to be prepared using the SOFIA Proposal Tool (SPT), which is based on the Astronomer's Proposal Tool (APT) used for Hubble Space Telescope proposals. The proposal ingest will become operational along with the final Call for Proposals release.

SPT is fairly intuitive to use, and we encourage those interested in proposing for Basic Science to download the tool and try it out. Please feel free to send us feedback. Detailed instructions will be made available along with the release of the final Call for Proposals..

Download SPT (Note: ignore the username/password boxes at the top of the page.)

SOFIA Instrument Time Estimator (SITE)

The exposure times for proposed FORCAST observations should be estimated using using the on-line calculator, SITE. (Note: ignore the username/password boxes at the top of the page.)

Examples of observation planning with FORCAST

Observation Planning with FORCAST: RNO1B
Observation Planning with FORCAST: Haro 3

GREAT tutorial

The method for estimating exposure times for GREAT observations is contained in the "Guide to Observation Planning with GREAT".

In order to calculate exposure times for observations using GREAT, it is necessary to know the atmospheric transmission as a function of wavelength. This may be done using the on-line tool ATRAN.

Example of observation planning with GREAT

Observation Planning with GREAT: MWC349

Target Visibility Tool

There is a problem with how the visibility tool parses certain target names for SIMBAD queries. The issue has been identified and a fix is underway. See here for details.

The target visibility for SOFIA can be determined using the on-line Target Visibility Tool. Instructions on using the tool are available by clicking the "Help" or "?" icon on the top left of the applet. The Call for Proposals will contain details such as the permissible target elevations and flight times. (Note: ignore the username/password boxes at the top of the page.)

"Proceedings of the SPIE" article on SOFIA

"The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)" (Gehrz & Becklin 2008) contains information about the telescope and the mission, which could be useful for proposers.

Page Last Updated: January 31, 2011