Mt. Locke Proposal Submission Instructions
McDonald Proposals Online Submission consists of 4 web forms, a public outreach page, and a review/submit page. A single or multiple
file attachment must be prepared separately and uploaded on page 4 of the forms as a pdf.
Page 1 - Proposal Information
- Proposal Title
- PI/Institution
- PI Email
- Co-I(s)
- Abstract
- Nights Requested
- Telescope/Mode
- Instrument Requested
- Detector
- Time Critical
- Target of Opportunity
- Lunar Constraints
- CCD Binning
- Gratings
- Filters
- Specification of Date Ranges
- Other Constraints (Dates you cannot observe)
- Request for Long-Term Status (UT personnel only)
Page 2 - Observer Information
- Name of Actual Observer
- Email of Observer
- Last Use (Date observer last used requested telescope)
- Last Instrument Use (Date observer last used requested instrument)
- Has observer been trained on the requested telescope and instrument?
- If no, how will observer be trained?
- Name of experienced UT observer with this telescope/instrument who will accompany
the actual observer for at least two nights
- Name of graduate student experienced with this telescope/instrument hired to accompany
the actual observer
- Agreement to attend at least 2 nights of an observing run with this telescope/instrument prior
to the requested run
- New user's observing experience
- New user's observing reference
Page 3 - Graduate Students Only
- Are these data being used by a graduate student for dissertation work?
- Grad Student Name
- Subject of Dissertation
- Grad Student Advisor
- Grad Student Year
- Estimated Completion Date
- Is this research part of the degree requirement?
- Estimate how much more telescope time will be needed to complete research
Page 4 - Uploads (PDF)
Requests for observing time must include the following, uploaded as a single or multiple file .pdf attachment. Prepare
in any text editor. Minimum 11pt. type, 1" margins. For LaTeX
users: A template for preparing text in the proper format can be found
here. Uploaded attachments
may be black and white or color.
- Scientific Justification
Up to 1 page text, and 2 page figures/references
- Description of Observations & Justification of Exposure Times
Should include an object table with RA/Dec and Mag for each object -or- a representative list or description of sample
- Description and Justification of Special Constraints
- Results from Previous Observing Time at McDonald
Up to 1 page
- Request for Long-Term Status
UT observers only. Up to 1 page. Please indicate why your proposal needs long-term status, what milestones you expect to
achieve by the end of the 1 year period and details of the numbers of nights you need in the current and following two trimesters.
Review and Submit
In addition to a web page review, "Preview Proposal" will create a pdf of your proposal, as it will be
submitted to the TAC. Once submitted, you may continue to edit the proposal. The TAC will receive the version in the system at the
close of the submission period.
