What's New in 27A?

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

  • Constraints on Opportunities (Section 3.2.4): Starting with the 27A semester the GBT will join the VLA  to include the following constraints for proposals with a PI from a non-US institution.
    1. Only scheduling priorities A and B will be allocated time; no filler time.
    2. The priority A and B time will be further restricted by applying a country cap of 10% and a total foreign cap of 30%

The GBT  Ku-band receiver will be limited to using only a single beam.

GBT Breakthrough Listen (BTL) backend: Proposers must seek permission from BTL and the GBO director (or scheduler) before submitting a 27A proposal to use the BTL backend.

Reminders:

  • Updates to Proposal Requirements (Section 3.3.1):
    • The Scientific Justification must not include embedded or clickable hyperlinks within the text. Plain text URLs are permitted.
    • References must be included within the page limit of the Scientific Justification. While no specific citation format is required, reference entries must contain sufficient information to identify the work, consistent with standard professional practices.
  • Proprietary Period (Section 5.5.4): Beginning with the 26A semester the proprietary period will be increased from one to two years for all PIs.
  • Use of AI (Section 3.3.2): Starting in 26A, proposers that use AI tools during proposal preparation should select the checkbox under the "AI Usage" section on the proposal's "General" page in the Proposal Submission Tool.
  • GBT Constraints:
    • Monitoring proposals are required to discuss the impacts of summer shutdowns else risk the proposal being fully rejected on technical grounds.  See the "Expected GBT available time" section in the GBT Proposal Guide under the full proposal call.  
    • S and Ka-band receivers will only be considered to be made available if proposals are very highly ranked.
    • Prime focus receiver monitoring constraints:
      • UWBR will be available one week per month for monthly monitoring observations.
      • PF/800 will be available for one week per month for monthly monitoring observations.  However this is limited to the 27A semester.  The PF/800 receiver may not be available regularly in the 27B semester.
      • PF/342 will be available on an irregular basis, but roughly once per month.  Only monitoring observations that can support an irregular cadence will be considered.

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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