As decided by the STC, and in collaboration with the head of the OPC, a Service Observing Program has been set-up which has become operable at the start of period 31. The Service Observing Program offers the opportunity to propose short programs on a running basis and with a short lead time from proposal to execution. Only short programs are accepted for the service program, with a maximum total length of four hours. Proposals may concern short, self-contained projects, pilot projects, or observations needed to finish projects which were, e.g., cut short by bad weather or interrupted by ToO observations. The service program is open to anybody, and the evaluation criteria are only scientific quality and technical feasibility.
A brief description of the program is provided at http://www.not.iac.es/observing/service/ with links to the service proposal form and a page providing instructions on how the details of the observations can be defined after a proposal has been accepted.
A limited number of service nights will be reserved for the service program in each semester. To offer a broad set of observing capabilities, but at the same time provide a system that allows both flexibility and the highest possible rate of completion of the proposed observing programs, the instruments that will be available are ALFOSC and NOTCam in imaging, spectroscopic and polarimetric mode, and StanCam in imaging mode.