Procedures for Target of Opportunity Observations

Target of Opportunity(ToO) observations are intended to conduct research for transient and/or rare phenomena as a part of the Subaru open use observations. Applicants of accepted ToO proposals can submit their request to use their allotted nights of the Subaru Telescope except for the UH time and Gemini/Keck time exchange nights. The Subaru Observatory will decide whether their request is accepted or not. Although the prompt decision is required for ToO observations, careful considerations should be made about any effect on originally scheduled observations. The Subaru Observatory will following procedure to cope with ToO observations.

1. SUBARU Time Allocation Committee (TAC) meeting
   • TAC can set conditions to issue each accepted ToO observation. TAC may suggest which ToO observation is (or isn't) allowed to be conducted during specific observations of the normal program.
   • Open use (Takeda) or initial scheduler (Imanishi) in Mitaka will make a summary of the TAC discussion about ToO observations. The summary will be distributed to the Subaru Director (M. Hayashi), Associate Directors (in Hilo; Nishimura, Takami, and T. Usuda), and Science Operation Division Chief (Terada).
   • Time-critical observations of the normal program should be shown for clarity with a mark in the internal schedule calendar.
2. Notification to applicants of accepted ToO proposals
   • Applicants of accepted ToO proposals will be informed of the conditions and procedures to issue their ToO observation. In the e-mail of notification, telephone numbers of the Director, Associate Directors (in Hilo), and Science Operation Division Chief will be shown.
3. Observation request from accepted ToO applicants
   • ToO observers should call the Director using the telephone numbers in the e-mail of notification, when they request to issue their ToO observation. If the Director isn't available, they should call the person following the order shown in the figure.
   • In case of the Director's absence, one of the Associate Directors will be in charge of the decision.
   • In case of the Director's and Associate Directors' absence, the Science Operation Division Chief will be in charge of the decision.
   • The Director (or his deputy) will call at the site of the observation (mostly for Support Astronomer) to inquire the status of the scheduled observation.
   • The Director (or his deputy) will decide whether the proposed ToO observation is accepted or not, considering its urgency and the impact on the scheduled observation. For an acceptance of the ToO observation, it should be required that at least one member of Subaru Telescope staff (in Hawaii) is secured as a Co-I at the site of the observation. If the TAC process has to be referred to consider about the science merit, the Science Operation Division Chief will give any necessary comments on it.
4. Compensation for originally scheduled observations
   • The Science Operation Division will set dates to compensate observers for time lost due to ToO observations as soon as possible.