Using ISO
Publication date: 01 November 1995
Authors: Kessler, M.F.
Journal: ESA Bulletin
Volume: 84
Year: 1995
Copyright: ESA
In keeping with ISO's role as an observatory, the majority of its observing time will be available to the astronomical community. The traditional route of Calls for Observing Proposals, followed by peer review, is being used. There has been one Call prior to launch and a single Supplemental Call is foreseen post-launch. The expected high sensitivity of the ISO instruments will lead to observations of relatively short duration, typically tens of minutes to a few hours. This, in turn, means that many thousands of observations using the four highly sophisticated instruments with multiple operating modes will be carried out in ISO's limited lifetime of 18 months. Thus, as many as possible of the processes, from proposal submission to sending specific commands to the satellite to carry out a particular observation, have been automated. In addition, all details of the desired observations have to be specified by the observer in advance of the observation being executed to allow the complex observing programmes to be established.
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