General Observer Investigations (GOs)

GO overview

The SSC Director reserves the right to change the scope and nature of GO proposals being solicited for each observing cycle. The scope of GO programs solicited for each observing cycle will be clearly stated in each CP.

The current schedule for GO observing cycles can be found on the Science Schedules page.

The SSC provides data analysis funding for approved GO investigations. The level of funding is determined by algorithmic means, and depends on the amount of observing time granted and the complexity of the data analyses tasks. Therefore, budgets do not need to be submitted as part of the original GO proposal.

Cycle-6

• Call for Proposals
  
  The Cycle-6 Call for Proposals was released on 7 July 2009, with a deadline of 10 Oct 2008 for Exploration Science proposals, and 6 Feb 2009 for General Observer proposals.
• Proposal Statistics
  
  • Statistics on Exploration Science proposals that were accepted for GO-6.
  • Statistics on the proposals that were received for CP-6.
• GO-6 Abstracts
  In addition to the complete list of GO6 abstracts, there is also a plain text list of the accepted proposals for GO-6 (GO).

Cycle-5

• Call for Proposals
  
  The Cycle-5 Call for Proposals was released on 15 Aug 07, with a deadline of 16 Nov 07.
• Proposal Statistics
  
  Here are statistics on the proposals that were received for CP-5, and here are statistics on the proposals that were accepted for GO-5.
• Panel and TAC membership
  
  Here is a list of all of the Cycle-5 reviewers, including both panelists and TAC members.
• EPO information
  
  There will be no EPO program for Cycle-5.
• GO-5 Abstracts
  In addition to the complete list of GO5 abstracts, there is also a plain text list of the accepted proposals for GO-5 (AR, TR, and GO).

Cycle-4

• Call for Proposals
  
  The Cycle-4 Call for Proposals was released on 1 Nov 06, with a deadline of 14 Feb 07.
• Proposal Statistics
  
  Here are statistics on the proposals that were received for CP-4, and here are statistics on the proposals that were accepted for GO-4.
• Panel and TAC membership
  
  Here is a list of all of the Cycle-4 reviewers, including both panelists and TAC members.
• EPO information
  
  There will be no EPO program for Cycle-4.
• GO-4 Abstracts
  In addition to the complete list of GO4 abstracts, there is also a plain text list of the accepted proposals for GO-4 (AR, TR, and GO).

Cycle-3

• Call for Proposals
  
  The Cycle-3 Call for Proposals was released in Nov 05, with a deadline of 16 Feb 05.
• Proposal Statistics
  
  Here are statistics on the proposals that were received for CP-3, and here are statistics on the proposals that were accepted for GO-3.
• Panel and TAC membership
  
  Here is a list of all of the Cycle-3 reviewers, including both panelists and TAC members.
• EPO information
  
  There will be no EPO program for Cycle-3.
• GO-3 Abstracts
  In addition to the complete list of GO3 abstracts, there is also a plain text list of the accepted proposals for GO-3 (AR, TR, and GO).

Cycle-2

• Call for Proposals
  
  The Cycle-2 Call for Proposals was released in Nov 04, with a deadline of 12 Feb 05. New things for GO-2 - joint proposals and more. Resources for coordinated and joint proposals.
• Proposal Statistics
  
  Here are statistics on the proposals that were received for CP-2, and here are statistics on the proposals that were accepted for GO-2.
• Panel and TAC membership
  
  Here is a list of all of the Cycle-2 reviewers, including both panelists and TAC members.
• EPO information
  
  There will be no EPO program for Cycle-2.
• GO-2 Abstracts
  In addition to the complete list of GO2 abstracts, there is also a plain text list of the accepted proposals for GO-2 (AR, TR, and GO).

Cycle-1

• Call for Proposals
  
  The initial General Observer Cycle-1 CP was issued in November 2002, prior to launch. An updated CP was issued on 19 December 2004. The deadline for submission of proposals was 14 February 2004.
• Proposal Statistics
  
  Here are statistics on the proposals that were received for CP-1, and here are statistics on the proposals that were accepted for GO-1.
• Panel and TAC membership
  
  Here is a list of all of the Cycle-1 reviewers, including both panelists and TAC members.
• EPO information
  
  Cycle-1 EPO CP.
• GO-1 Abstracts
  In addition to the complete list of GO1 abstracts, there is also a plain text list of the accepted proposals for GO-1 (AR as well as GO).

Special categories of GO investigations

Targets of Opportunity (ToO)

In general, ToO proposals must be submitted to the SSC via the normal GO Calls for Proposals. The unique attributes and requirements of ToO observations are discussed in the ToO pages.

Generic Targets

Generic targets denote observations that fail to qualify as Targets of Opportunity; that is, they have more refined and predictive spatial and temporal information than ToOs. Generic targets can be described scientifically, but lack precise celestial coordinates or brightness estimates at the time of the proposal submission deadline. A Spitzer generic target can be selected from a complementary observing program with Spitzer, or with any other observatory, but one where the conditional observations (assumed to be under the control of the Spitzer Principal Investigator) are scheduled, but not yet executed or analyzed prior to the Spitzer proposal deadline. An example of a generic target involves Spitzer follow-up observations of targets culled from a ground-based supernova search program. In this case, the investigator would demonstrate that scheduled ground-based observing time is likely to yield enough supernovae to create a credible Spitzer proposal. However, the initial observations have not yet been made at the time of Spitzer proposal submission.

Multi-Cycle Observing Projects

Investigations requiring long temporal baselines, but small amounts of total observing time, can be a component of a proposed General Observer investigation. These requests must be limited to cases where it is clearly required to optimize the scientific return of the project. Multi-cycle observations are presumed to be repeated visits to the same target(s) with the same observing mode over several proposal cycles specified by the user, typically to monitor a source. Examples include astrometric observations or long-term monitoring of variable stars or active galactic nuclei.

Second-Look Observations

In some cases essential, predictable and pre-planned re-visits to objects and/or fields may be appropriate as part of a General Observer investigation. These second-look observations (SLOs) must be clearly justified as an integral part of a coherent GO investigation. Unlike long-term monitoring programs, SLOs are presumed to be a subsequent observation of a target with a different observing mode, with the intention of conducting a diagnostic observation related to an earlier discovery. Such re-visits should not be used to follow up, at will, interesting results uncovered in the initial observations. Such follow-up observations should be proposed as part of a GO program in a subsequent cycle. Generic targets (see above) could be a primary component of Spitzer second-look observations. For example, generic targets describe the situation where Spitzer imaging data yields discoveries of new objects for which Spitzer/IRS spectroscopic second-look observations are desired, based upon selection criteria specified in the original science proposal.

Things GO investigations CAN'T do

Snapshots

Snapshot exposures, consisting of relatively short observations and used to optimize the observational efficiency of Spitzer, cannot be proposed. "Snapshot" proposals refer to a concept perhaps more familiar to Hubble observers--in brief, this concept was initiated to fill gaps in the Hubble schedule that would otherwise have been idle time for the telescope. There is a paper in astro-ph describing the origin of the concept.

Snapshot proposals are not solicited for Spitzer, primarily because the observing efficiency of the telescope is so high with regularly scheduled observations.

Parallel Observations

It is not possible to conduct parallel observations with more than one science instrument on Spitzer.

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