General rules for the allocation of observing time and user contributionsThe Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) is a facility intended for astronomical research, where the main objective of NOTSA is to provide access to researchers at Nordic institutes. The Associates that form the NOT Scientific Association contribute a major part of the funding, which covers basic access to the telescope and its instrument for Nordic users, but NOT provides substantial more services than pure access to the telescope. As stipulated in the new NOTSA Agreement, the users shall also contribute to the operational cost of the telescope, and for any services requested beyond basic access, a contribute to the operational cost will be required. Non-Associate users should contribute the full operational cost for any observing time that is allocated, and the corresponding services that are provided.Furthermore, in accordance with the new NOTSA Agreement, the share of observing time for each Nordic Country is to be proportional to the contributions from the Associates. A document outlining the rules for the allocation of observing time and the related user contributions as agreed with the NOT Council can be found here. For proposals being allocated time through OPTICON the user contribution is covered by that programme. These rules for the allocation of time and the related user contributions will be implemented by the next Call for Proposals (with deadline in the middle of November 2014). I would like to stress that this is a joint decision by the Associates that offer the NOT to the community, while this also has been discussed with many people in detail to come to a situation that is acceptable and provide a sustainable future for the NOT. I strongly believe the alternative is not in the interest of anybody. I truly hope that this will be the start of a new phase in the life of NOT, so it can continue to be as successful as it already has been until now.
July 17, 2014 |
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