The Cycle 13 Announcement Web page contains links to information and documentation (including this Primer) that will be of use to you in the preparation of an HST proposal. It also contains any late-breaking updates on the Phase I process, and answers to frequently asked questions.
The Call for Proposals discusses the policies and procedures for submitting a Phase I proposal for HST observing or archival research. It also provides a summary of the proposal process, from proposal submission to execution of the observations. The Call for Proposals is accessible from the Cycle 13 Announcement Web page.
The Instrument Handbooks are the primary source of information for the HST instruments. You should consult them for any information that goes beyond what is presented in this Primer. Please use current versions when preparing your Phase I proposal. They are available for all instruments, including former instruments that may be of interest for archival research. The Handbooks are distributed electronically, and can be accessed from the HST Instrument Handbooks Web page. This page also provides links to more detailed technical information, such as that provided in Instrument Science Reports.
In a continuing effort to streamline our systems and improve service to the science community, STScI developed and released the Astronomer's Proposal Tools (APT) in Cycle 12. This java-based software tool is the new interface for all Phase I and Phase II proposal submissions for HST. It brings state of the art technology and more visual tools into the hands of proposers to optimize the scientific return of their programs. In addition, APT helps to decrease the time between Phase I and the start of the observing cycle. The Cycle 13 version of APT has significantly improved performance over last year's version. In addition, the observation entry forms have been reorganized to allow faster and more concise specification of observations. Many other enhancements have been made to make proposal preparation and submission more friendly, robust and accurate. The APT Web page contains information on the installation and use of APT.
STScI provides Exposure Time Calculators (ETCs) for each of the HST instruments. Please use these electronic tools to estimate how long you need to integrate to achieve the signal-to-noise ratio required for your project. The ETCs will also issue warnings about target count rates that exceed linearity and safety limits. The ETCs can be accessed from the individual instrument Web pages, which in turn are accessible from the HST Instruments Web page.
The Visual Target Tuner (VTT) displays HST apertures and fields of view that are superimposed on sky images. The VTT is available as both an integrated and stand-alone tool with the Astronomer's Proposal Tools (APT) software package. Detailed information about the VTT is accessible from the APT Web page.
The VTT can be useful in Phase I proposal preparation to help answer questions such as: How many exposures will I need to mosaic my extended target? Which of my potential targets "fits best" in the aperture? Is there anything interesting I can observe with a coordinated parallel in another aperture? Do any of my potential targets have nearby bright objects that could spoil the observation? Is there an orientation which would avoid the bright object?
The VTT also includes an interface to StarView, the HST archive software (see Section 7.2.1). This allows you to invoke the VTT from StarView to graphically represent StarView results on what areas of the sky have previously been observed. Conversely you can call up StarView from the VTT to see what observations have been made near a particular pointing.
The HST Data Archive (see the HST Data Handbook) forms a part of the Multimission Archive at STScI (MAST). The HST Data Archive contains all the data taken by HST. Completed HST observations from both GO and GTO programs are available to the community upon the expiration of their proprietary periods. Observations taken under the Treasury (see Section 3.2.4 of the Call for Proposals) and public parallel (see Section 4.2.2 of the Call for Proposals) programs carry no proprietary period.
The MAST Web page provides an overview of the HST Data Archive, as well as the procedures for retrieving archival data (see also Section 7.2). A copy of the HST Data Archive is maintained at the Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF) in Garching, to which European requests should normally be addressed. The Canadian Astronomy Data Centre also maintains a copy of public HST science data (only), and is the preferred source for Canadian astronomers. The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) maintains a nearly complete copy of the public HST science data, and should provide faster access for astronomers in Pacific rim nations. However, the NAOJ site may not have all public data available since it does not provide the re-processing and re-calibration services that the other HST archive sites do and it does not yet have a complete set of pre-Servicing Mission 2 data.
The HST Data Handbook describes the data produced by the instruments. The Space Telescope Science Data Analysis Software (STSDAS) Web page has links to the software that is used to calibrate and analyze HST data, and to documentation on its use. See Section 7.1 for details.
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