Proposal Types
Three types of proposals may be submitted for the NRAO deadlines of Feb 1 and Aug 1 each year:
- Regular proposals: Proposals that request < 200 hours total observing time on the GBT, VLA, and/or VLBA/HSA.
- Large proposals: Proposals that request ≥ 200 hours total observing on the GBT, VLA, and/or VLBA/HSA. NRAO policy regarding Large proposals may be found here.
- Triggered proposals: Proposals for pre-planned observations of transients whose event times are unknown a priori. Well-defined triggering criteria are required.
These three types of proposals may request time on more than one NRAO telescope, in which case they are referred to as joint proposals.
One other type of proposal is available and may be submitted at any time:
- Directors' Discretionary Time (DDT) proposals: Proposals for a Target of Opportunity or for Exploratory Time.
It is anticipated that up to 5% of the observing time available on each telescope will be reserved for DDT proposals. NRAO data policy for each proposal type is discussed here.
