Proposal Kit

The Basics

At minimum, these are the documents needed to plan, prepare and submit a Spitzer observing proposal:
• Spot User's Guide
• Spitzer Reserved Observations Catalog (ROC), which is most easily searched via Leopard, the Spitzer archive tool.
• For Cycle-6:
  • NASA/ADP funding now available for Spitzer archival research
  • Spitzer Observer's Manual (Warm SOM)
  • Cycle 6 Call for Proposals
  • Spitzer Observing Rules
  • Observation Planning Cookbook (Warm Cookbook)
  • Important notes regarding preparation of Spitzer Cycle-6 proposals
• For Director's Discretionary Time (DDT):
  • How to apply for DDT

You will also need the Spot software:

Current version is v18 Getting the Software Spot Sample Files: AORs * Targets Spot Pocket Guide Spot hints, tips, tricks

Also see the Performance Estimation Tool (the PET has sensitivities; there are other tools too), the Proposal Submission Guide, and even more stuff listed below...

NEW SPITZER OBSERVERS START HERE:

• Quick-Start Proposal Submission Guide. For a longer cookbook-style document, start with the Observation Planning Cookbook... how to go from an idea to a set of fully-functional Astronomical Observation Requests (AORs) for your Spitzer proposal! The acronyms list might also be helpful.
• Professional astronomer new to the infrared? Start with the Infrared Compendium.

What has Spitzer observed so far?

Additional Useful Information and Spitzer Tools

Notes on IRAC High Precision Photometric Observations -- 13 Nov 07

Memo on WISE and Spitzer Performance -- 3 Apr 07

Memo on IRAC signal-to-noise ratio calculation -- 12 Feb 07

Memo on AKARI and Spitzer Performance -- 9 Feb 07

Memo on Spitzer pointing over long integrations -- 3 Feb 06

Proposal Submission Guide Spitzer Tools (Performance Estimation Tool, etc) IRAC pixel coordinate/pointing offset transformations tool Observation Planning Cookbook AOR file parser (perl script) - useful as an aid in preparing the observation summary table portion of your proposal! Previously published papers: Spitzer papers, including the ApJS special issue, and "ISO science legacy - a compact review of ISO major achievements". Bright Object List - things Spot helps you avoid by itself, and things that you should avoid on your own. DDT and TOO information and instructions. Special Overhead Burdens for TOOs and DDTs. Constraints: Definitions, Hints, and Tips How to use constraints wisely. IPAC Table Format tool (reformat your ascii input table) Field-of-View rotation as a function of ecliptic latitude Tips on making PDF documents (since Spitzer proposals require PDF format!) Science Schedules IR Background page from the IR Compendium - things to worry about when considering backgrounds. Estimating the Sky Background (e.g. more on how Spot does it): PDF Format * HTML Format Instrument Sensitivities (also see Sensitivity PET): IRAC (Cryo) * IRAC (Warm) * IRS * MIPS Background Estimates used in Sensitivity Plots Astronomical Observation Templates (AOT) Description of the Spitzer Space Telescope proposal process Cycle-4 and Cycle-5 Scheduling

The following items are also available on the left-hand (grey) portion of every SSC web page: Science User Support Approved Programs (abstracts and schedules) Data Archives and Analysis Data Analysis Funding Search this site

Solar System and Extrasolar Planet Observations

If Spot does not already have an ephemeris for your desired target, it will now automatically query Horizons to obtain the ephemeris in real time, which typically takes a few seconds. You no longer need to request loading of a new ephemeris via the Helpdesk. Please note that a visibility window must be requested in Spot, either interactively or in batch mode, to trigger loading of the new ephemeris. Although some of our documentation states that ephemeris loading will occur when AOR time estimates are requested for a new target, that is currently not the case. We are working to fix this bug for future Spot releases.
• Solar System Observing with Spitzer - The latest information on Spitzer's Solar System capabilities.
• Horizons Tips For Spitzer Solar System Observers - for Spitzer observation planning, and to identify known moving targets in your Spitzer data.
• Horizons Tips For Spitzer Extrasolar Planet Observers - to calculate Spitzer's heliocentric position as a function of time.
• JPL's Small-Body Database Browser - provides name, NAIF ID resolution and other information on comets and asteroids.
• Spitzer Main-Belt Asteroid Count Estimates; it is important to also see Meadows et al. (2004) from the FLS
• Spitzer Near-Earth Object Count Estimates
• Dana Point Conference Slides, Dana Point Final Report, and SSC Response to the Dana Point report

Science User Support

Useful Proposal Preparation Resources Beyond the SSC

• IRSKY, Observation Planning tool for the IR sky
• Skyview, Image Display and Analysis tools
• Coordinate Conversion (NED Coordinate and Galactic Extinction Calculator)
• Horizons (JPL)-- Solar System data and ephemeris computation service
• NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database-- NED
• 2 Micron All-Sky Survey-- 2MASS
• InfraRed Science Archive-- IRSA
• ISO data archive -- also see ISO Science Legacy papers
• DSS (STScI)
• SIMBAD (CDS)
• Colden: Galactic Neutral Hydrogen Density Calculator from Chandra website (useful for MIPS)

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