Hints and Help for Proposers

If you have any questions concerning ISO you can use the ESTEC helpdesk. Its e-mail address is helpdesk@iso.estec.esa.nl and the format for helpdesk queries is on pages 25 & 26 of the "Call for Observing Proposals. Policies, Procedures and Forms" document.

Some considerations to bear in mind when writing ISO proposals include:

1. The ISO and the four Instrument Observers' manuals are the baseline method for calculating observing times.
2. The ISO Remote Proposal Submission System (IRPSS) must be used to validate proposals. When it is used, it reads your input file and produces an output file for printing. The INPUT file must be submitted electronically and the OUTPUT file must be submitted in paper form.
3. When writing the input file for IRPSS, note that section 2a. - Scientific Justification should not be filled in. Section 2a is just the header to the rest of the form. The scientific justification should go in sections 2b, 3, 4 and 5.
4. The observing programme of ISO will be executed automatically, and ISO will be "blind pointed" to its targets using the coordinates supplied by the observer. Thus, your coordinates must be accurate to better than the requested slit size - IRAS coordinates are insufficient. Also, J2000 coordinates are preferred.
5. If you want to send your paper proposal to us by "courier" or "overnight" mail, it is better to use our normal address, not the P.O. Box address listed in the Call documentation. Please use:
   ISO Observing Time Proposal
   ESTEC-SAI
   Keplerlaan 1
   2201 AZ Noordwijk
   The Netherlands
6. The deadline for electronic submission of proposals is 20.00 GMT on 19th August. You are strongly advised to submit proposals as early as possible so as to avoid any delays that might be caused by possible network congestion close to the deadline.

There is a Support Group for UK astronomers, headed by Helen Walker, that can be contacted in a variety of ways: by phone on 0235 8219000 x 5114 or 6490 for Helen Walker; by fax on 0235 446667; or by e-mail to "ISOMAIL@STAR.RL.AC.UK". The ISO-Spectrometer Data Center at Max Planck Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik in Garching distributes a newsletter at irregular intervals. To be added to, or be removed from, their distribution list, send a short e-mail to "isodata@mpe-garching.mpg.de". IPAC offers an e-mail help line for US astronomers with the address "iso@ipac.caltech.edu".