Space Telescope Science Institute   3.6 Joint HST-NOAO Observing Proposals  3.8 Director's Discretionary (DD) Time Proposals

3.7 Joint HST-Spitzer Observing Proposals


If your science project requires observations from both HST and Spitzer, then you can submit a single proposal to request time on both observatories to either the HST Cycle 15 review or the Spitzer Cycle 3 review. This avoids the "double jeopardy" of having to submit proposals to two separate reviews. Technical information about Spitzer instrumentation and observations is available from the Spitzer Science Center (SSC) Web site and specific questions can be addressed to the SSC Help desk (help@spitzer.caltech.edu).

By agreement with the SSC, STScI will be able to award up to 125 hours of Spitzer observing time. Similarly the SSC will be able to award up to 90 orbits of HST time to highly rated proposals awarded Spitzer time in its TAC process. The only criterion above and beyond the usual review criteria is that the project is fundamentally of a multi-wavelength nature, and that both sets of data are required to meet the science goals. Spitzer time will only be awarded in conjunction with HST observations (and should not be proposed for in conjunction with an Archival Research or Theory Proposal). Proposers may request up to 50 hours of Spitzer time in any one HST Cycle 15 proposal. Any program requiring 50 hours or more of Spitzer time should be submitted as a Spitzer Cycle 3 proposal.

No more than 20% of the Spitzer hours awarded may include timing constraints. Proposers may not request either high-impact (<1 week; minimum 48 hours) or medium-impact (1-5 week) ToO observations. Spitzer high- and medium-impact ToOs require substantial time overheads, and requests should be directed to the Spitzer TAC. See Appendix E of the Spitzer Cycle-3 Call for Proposals for details.

Proposals for combined HST and Spitzer observations should be submitted to the observatory that represents the prime science (not to both observatories). Similarly, proposals for observations with HST, Spitzer and Chandra ( Section 3.5) should only be submitted to the observatory that represents the prime science. The Spitzer Cycle 3 deadline is 16 February 2006. While there is multi-wavelength expertise in the review panels for both observatories, typically the HST panels will be stronger in optical/UV science and the Spitzer panels in infrared science.

Evaluation of the technical feasibility is the responsibility of the observer, who should review the Spitzer documentation or consult with the SSC (see Section 9.4.2 for details). For proposals that are approved, the SSC will perform detailed feasibility checks in Spitzer Cycle 3. The SSC reserves the right to reject any previously approved observation that proves to be non-feasible, impossible to schedule, and/or dangerous to the Spitzer instruments. Any Spitzer observations that prove infeasible or impossible could jeopardize the overall science program and may cause revocation of the corresponding HST observations. Duplicate Spitzer observations may also be rejected by the SSC.


 3.6 Joint HST-NOAO Observing Proposals  3.8 Director's Discretionary (DD) Time Proposals
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