What's New in 25B?

NRAO and GBO Users' Policy.  The NRAO and GBO Users' Policies have been updated and include the following:

  • Joint IXPE/NRAO Proposals (Section 3.2.3):There is a new reciprocal and cooperative agreement between the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) and the NRAO in which observing time is made available for coordinated observations on a competitive basis.  The IXPE GO Program permits the NRAO to award up to 300 ksec of IXPE observing time per year. In return, up to 5% of the NRAO scientific observing time will be made availalbe on NRAO's VLA, GBT, and VLBA or up to 200-300 hours per year on each telescope.  See Joint Proposals for details.
  • Student Proprietary Period (Section 5.5.4): Beginning with the 2025B semester the proprietary period will be increased from one to two years for thesis proposals; that is, proposals that include graduate students that have checked the thesis textbox and included a Dissertation plan.
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI).
    • (Section 3.3.2): Proposers should not use AI services to generate content: AI services may be used to improve the readability of the proposal's text.  In such cases, proposers shall declare that AI services were used during the proposal preparation in their Science Justification.  Proposers are responsible for the content of their proposals and must properly reference materials to prevent plagiarism.  Proposals are required to be original and free of plagiarized material.
    • (Section 4.4): Reviewers shall not upload proposals to AI services, as this violates the Observatory's confidentiality policy (Section 5.5.3) and should not use AI to evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of a proposal.

VLBA Real-time Correlation.  Beginning in the 25B semester real-time correlation will be offered as shared risk observing.  See the VLBA Observational Status Summary under Shared Risk Observing for more details.

VLA On-the-fly (OTF) mapping. Beginning in the 25B semester VLA OTF mapping using interpolation in Galactic coordinates will be offered as shared risk observing.  See the VLA Observational Status Summary under Shared Risk Observing for more details.

Reminders:

  • Joint Proposals. Joint Proposals with ALMA or JWST need to be submitted to the facility requesting the larger amount of observing time. See Joint Proposals for details.
  • Dissertation Plans.  The Dissertation Plan requirements (Section 7.2) were revised to specify that the plan must be written by the student.  Students that have dissertation plans as part of their NRAO profile will be REQUIRED to update their plans following a strict thesis template.  The LaTex and  Word formats are available online.

  • PST Proposal Template.  The NRAO offers an optional Latex template for proposals.  Proposers are strongly encouraged to use this template for all proposal types - Regular, Large and DDTs and to follow the appropriate guidelines for font size, page margins and references.

See the NRAO and GBO Users' Policy page for more details.

Connect with NRAO

The NSF National Radio Astronomy Observatory and NSF Green Bank Observatory are facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Founded in 1956, the NSF NRAO provides state-of-the-art radio telescope facilities for use by the international scientific community. NSF NRAO telescopes are open to all astronomers regardless of institutional or national affiliation. Observing time on NSF NRAO telescopes is available on a competitive basis to qualified scientists after evaluation of research proposals on the basis of scientific merit, the capability of the instruments to do the work, and the availability of the telescope during the requested time. NSF NRAO also provides both formal and informal programs in education and public outreach for teachers, students, the general public, and the media.

The U.S. National Science Foundation (U.S. NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..."

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