Director's Discretionary Time (DDT)

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What is Director's Discretionary Time (DDT)? - Updated 2009 May 18

Five percent of the available Spitzer observing time is allocated by the SSC Director as Director's Discretionary Time (DDT), and is intended to facilitate observations that address emerging scientific topics or areas missed in the proposal review process. (more information...)

How to apply for DDT

Please consult the Proposal Kit for detailed information about Spitzer observing, including the Spitzer Observer's Manual, Spitzer Observing Rules, the Reserved Observations Catalog (ROC), and the Performance Estimation Tool. Please also read the What is DDT webpage.

Fill out this online submission form, which includes:

Standard coversheet information (PI and Co-I contact information, proposal title, etc, as for a regular GO submission).
A strong scientific justification (must be in PDF format), specifying why the request was not submitted during the normal Call for Proposals and the long-term legacy value of the observation.
Complete Astronomical Observation Requests (AORs).

Please upload both the science justification and the AORs via the online form.

Note that requests for DDT cannot be used to resubmit all or part of a proposal that was rejected by the normal peer review process.

First Look Survey (FLS)

The inaugural DDT program was the First Look Survey (FLS), which provided an early and representative sample of reliable infrared data.

Abstracts for Approved DDT programs

All of the abstracts for approved DDT programs are collected on another page.

Approved DDT programs include, e.g., observations from Spitzer Fellows.

Go back to Research Categories Overview page.