The OPTICON common call for EU supported access to telescopes in semester 2019B (1 October 2019 – 1 April 2020) is open. It will close on 28 February 2019 at 23.59UT exactly.

The NORDIC OPTICAL TELESCOPE offers a total of 25 nights per semester.

For the details of the announcement, see:

https://www.astro-opticon.org/h2020/tna/call/call-2019b.html

ALL non-Nordic and non-Spanish proposals for the Nordic Optical Telescope MUST be submitted through the OPTICON common proposal and evaluation system.

We would like to *emphasize* that apart from regular visitor mode, the NOT also offers (queue) service mode observing and provides a wide range of options for flexible scheduling through Target-of-Opportunity programs and/or monitoring programs on any time-scale (from hours, to days, to weeks, to months, to years).

*We note that*

– A set of 2 holographic diffuser are available to do high-precision photometry with ALFOSC. The diffuser effectively scrambled the incoming light, providing a more constant and optimal (`top-head’) shape, with minimal light loss, significantly reducing any
systematic effects in the photometry. The diffusers provide a very stable stellar image with a size (~FWHM) of between ~5 and ~7.5 arcsec, depending on where they are mounted. See for more information: http://www.not.iac.es/instruments/alfosc/diffuser.html

– The SOFIN high-resolution Echelle spectrograph is again available. It only is offered to do circular spectro-polarimetry with the
medium-resolution (R~80,000) camera. SOFIN is not a common-user instrument: only limited support is provided.

Kind regards,
Thomas Augusteijn
Director, NOTSA

https://www.astro-opticon.org/h2020/tna/call/call-2019b.html