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INTRODUCTION

 

ROSAT - an acronym for the German word Röntgensatellit - is a joint German, US and British space project. ROSAT provides a three-axes stabilized satellite in low Earth orbit carrying an imaging X-ray telescope (XRT) and an XUV telescope (WFC) covering the wave band between 700 and 6 Å. The ROSAT observatory has a nominal operation lifetime of 18 months. At the time of this writing, 8 months after launch, ROSAT has already completed 2 months of checkout and 6 months of an all-sky survey in the X-ray and XUV wavebands. It will now begin detailed studies of individual sources with respect to spatial structure, temporal variability, and spectral properties performed by guest investigators in the pointed observing mode. The anticipated lifetime of the satellite is longer than the nominal lifetime, providing the possibility of carrying on an extended observing program.

This document contains all the technical information required for the preparation of ROSAT observing proposals for the second scheduling period of pointed observations (AO2).

The following points might be of interest to potential guest observers:

• Proposals for ROSAT guest observations are for the pointed mode only.
• The pointed observing time is shared among the three national programs participating in ROSAT: Germany, United States, and United Kingdom.
• Scientists with home institutions in Germany, the United States, or the United Kingdom must apply for observing time only at their respective national agencies (BMFT, NASA, SERC); scientists from other countries may submit proposals to any (but only one) of the three national agencies participating in the ROSAT project.
• Proposals submitted by the proposal deadline are for the second six months of pointed ROSAT observations after completion of the all-sky survey.
• Proposals submitted after the initial due date will be evaluated at six-month intervals for subsequent six-month observing seasons. In the initial baseline mission one year of pointed observations is available, however there may be a mission extension.
• All pointed observations will have simultaneous XRT and WFC observations.
• All guest investigators will have proprietary data rights to the XRT data (PSPC or HRI) taken in their pointed program. UK and German observers will have proprietary data rights to the WFC data taken in their national program.
• Proprietary rights to WFC data taken simultaneously with XRT data arising from proposals submitted through NASA will belong to German or British investigators who are named in advance of the observations in order to provide the possibility for collaborative arrangements.
• Guest Observers have proprietary data rights for a period of 12 months after the data have been made available in a form suitable for scientific analysis.
• All nominal ROSAT operations will be preplanned and no real time observatory access is available.

Proposals must contain all the information specified on the forms provided in this document (see Chapter 9  for information and instructions). Unless other arrangements have been made within the respective national program (see national cover letter), this means that proposals must be submitted on a copy of these forms. Particular attention should be paid to the estimation of the feasibility of the proposed observations (see Chapters 10 , 11, and 12 of this document).