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GSFC XMM-Newton GOF Status Report #137: XMM-NEWTON NEWS #69



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_/            XMM-NEWTON NEWS #69   ---    28-Aug-2007            _/
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              XMM-Newton Science Operations Centre at
               ESA's European Space Astronomy Centre,
 P.O. Box - Apdo. 78, 28691 Villanueva de la Ca?ada, Madrid, Spain

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SOC Home Page:
   http://xmm.esac.esa.int/
Helpdesk web interface:
   http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_user_support/helpdesk.shtml
Helpdesk email address:
   xmmhelp@sciops.esa.int
News Mailing List:
   http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_user_support/xmm_news/

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Contents:

  XMM-Newton Announcement of Opportunity (AO-7)
  - Letter of invitation by the Director of the ESA Scientific
    Programme
  - Appendix: List of documentation
  Time line for Phase II proposal submission
  Important changes for AO-7, relative to earlier Calls

	
XMM-Newton Announcement of Opportunity (AO-7)
=============================================

Letter of invitation by the Director of the ESA Scientific Programme
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Colleague,

I am very pleased to invite you to respond to the seventh
"Announcement of Opportunity" to submit proposals for observations
to be performed with the XMM-Newton observatory.

XMM-Newton is the second cornerstone of ESA's Horizon 2000 Science
Programme. It was launched by an Ariane 5 launcher on the 10th of
December 1999 and offers astronomers a unique opportunity to
perform high throughput non-dispersive spectroscopic imaging in the
energy range from 0.2 keV to 12 keV (European Photon Imaging Camera;
EPIC) and medium resolution dispersive spectroscopy (Reflection
Grating Spectrometer; RGS) in the energy range from 0.4 keV to 2.2
keV. In addition it provides simultaneous optical/UV observations
with a co-aligned telescope (Optical Monitor; OM).

This Announcement solicits proposals to be carried out in the
period from May 2008 to May 2009. Proposers from all over the world
are welcome to participate. All proposals will be subject to
independent peer review by the XMM-Newton Observing Time Allocation
Committee (OTAC). Potential proposers are expected to prepare and
submit proposals in electronic form, by the deadline given below,
using the XMM-Newton Remote Proposal Submission (RPS) software.

The documentation for this Announcement is available via the
Internet at:

  http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_science/AO7/

The appendix to this announcement lists the relevant documents and
explains in detail how to access them. I would appreciate it if you
would distribute the attached information at your home institute.

The key milestones for this Announcement are:

Announcement of Opportunity        28 August     2007
Due date for Proposals             05 October    2007 (12:00 UT)
Final OTAC approved program        late December 2007

I invite you to submit your proposals and wish you success in using
the XMM-Newton observatory.


Yours sincerely,

Prof. D. Southwood
Director
ESA Scientific Programme


Appendix: Overview of Documentation
-----------------------------------

This appendix outlines the content of each of the documents
associated with X-ray Multi-mirror Mission's (XMM-Newton)
Announcement of Opportunity.

XMM-Newton Announcement of Opportunity: This letter from the
  Director of ESA's Scientific Programme is the formal Announcement
  of Opportunity to apply for XMM-Newton observing time.

XMM-Newton Announcement of Opportunity - Policies and Procedures:
  This is the "administrative" document of the Announcement,
  providing all necessary information about the policies adopted
  and the procedures to be followed.

XMM-Newton Users' Handbook: This gives a description of the
  satellite and its instruments, followed by detailed information
  on how to observe with XMM-Newton. For each of the three
  scientific instruments on board XMM-Newton (EPIC, RGS and OM)
  detailed information sufficient to calculate the necessary
  observing times is provided.

The documents listed above can be read (and downloaded) through the
World Wide Web on the XMM-Newton Public Server located at ESAC, at
the URL:

  http://xmm.esac.esa.int/

and can also be retrieved generally as postscript files from the
XMM-Newton/ESAC ftp server. Proposers should use ftp to access
"xmm.esac.esa.int", then, log in as "anonymous" and give their
e-mail address as password. Type "cd pub/AO7" to go to the
directory containing the relevant files. The desired files can then
be copied by typing "get filename" after issuing the "binary"
command.


Time line for Phase II proposal submission
==========================================

After the cycle of proposal submission and selection, the
observation details for successful proposals must be entered into
the observatory system. This is done during "Phase II" proposal
submission. Please find below for your information the anticipated
time line for that eventual Phase II:

Start of phase II proposal submission     14 January  2008
Closure of phase II proposal submission   08 February 2008


Important changes for AO-7, relative to earlier Calls
=====================================================

Scientific Justification
------------------------
Use of the provided LaTeX template to write the scientific
justification is highly recommended. Proposers may submit their
justifications either in one or two column format. Instructions to
activate a specific column format are provided in the LaTeX
template.

Targets of Opportunity
----------------------
It is allowed to propose observations of unpredictable events from
sources the coordinates of which cannot be provided in advance. The
procedure for proposing such observations is described in section
5.2.5.1 of the Policies and Procedures document.

Very Large Programs
-------------------
Scientific programs which require between 1 Msec and 3 Msec of
observing time are referred to as "Very Large Programs". The
XMM-Newton Users Group explicitly encourages the submission of
"Very Large Programs". Further details are given in section 5.2.3
of the Policies and Procedures document.


Yours sincerely,
XMM-Newton SOC

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