ESA Science & Technology - ASTRO-F Call for Letter of Intent

Dear Colleague,

This mail is to inform you of upcoming observing opportunities with JAXA's ASTRO-F infrared sky survey satellite. The "Observers' Fact-sheet"

http://www.astro-f.esac.esa.int/docs/ASTRO-F_Factsheet.pdf

gives a concise summary of the relevant information. If you are interested in this opportunity, you should return a brief "Letter of Intent" to ESA before 31 May 2005.

ASTRO-F is a Japanese infrared all-sky survey mission, scheduled for launch in January-February 2006 and with a foreseen operational lifetime of at least 1.5 years. In addition to the sky survey, part of the mission will be dedicated to pointed observations of specific astronomical targets. ASTRO-F has the capability for imaging and spectroscopy in 13 infrared bands from 2 to 180 microns. Resulting from ESA's participation in the mission, individuals and teams from institutes in ESA Member States may submit observing proposals for pointed observations in ASTRO-F's European Open Time programme (*). Further details on the ASTRO-F mission and the observing opportunities offered to European astronomers can be found at the ESA site: http://www.astro-f.esac.esa.int/.

To enable ESA to gauge the interest in ASTRO-F observing opportunities (and, consequently, size the facilities needed), likely proposers are asked to send a brief "Letter of Intent" to the ESA Project Scientist at 'astro-fsciops.esa.int' before 31 May 2005. The suggested format for this Letter is provided at the end of this mail.

Current planning foresees issue of the 'Call for Observing Proposals' on 1 September 2005, with proposals being due two months thereafter. Proposals will be peer-reviewed by a European Time Allocation Committee, and then merged with those resulting from the parallel Japanese Call.

Please note this is the last information on ASTRO-F sent to the ISO Data Archive users list. If you want to have your name added to our ASTRO-F mailing list for any future correspondence, please send a blank e-mail to astro-fsciops.esa.int, with "subscribe" in the subject field.

(*): Interested scientists outside Europe are encouraged to collaborate with PI's from ESA member state institutions.

Best regards,

Alberto Salama
ESA's ASTRO-F Project Scientist
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)
Villafranca, Madrid, Spain

Letter of Intent - Format

Proposer Information:
-------------------------
Name:
Institute:
E-Mail:

Proposal Information (Repeat per foreseen proposal):
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Scientific Category: select one of the following:

• Solar System, or
• Interstellar Matter, or
• Stellar/Circumstellar Physics, or
• Extragalactic Systems, or
• Cosmology

Title (preliminary):