Select a concise title for your proposal

Select the right programme from the pull-down menu ('OT2' for this AO).

Enter the total amount of time requested (in decimal hours) in the proposal as calculated by HSpot.

Enter, one by one, the names, affiliations and e-mail addresses of your co-I's.

Write a short abstract (no more than 2040 characters including blank spaces) describing the main features of your proposal.

Choose one (and only one) among the science categories offered as a choice in HSpot into which you feel your proposal fits better from the broad Extragalactic, Galactic, or Solar System headings. This information will be used to distribute proposals to the panels for the review.

Add any other text which you may consider convenient to be placed in the cover sheet (otherwise leave it blank).

Scientific goals. Proposals must indicate here the main science goals to be addressed and provide an explanation for how they are proposed to be met using the proposed observations. A description of the relevance of the proposed science to astronomy should be given indicating how the proposed Herschel observations will advance knowledge in the proposed area of research.

Need for Herschel. Proposals must explain why the main science goals require observations to be performed by Herschel, rather than by another facility, or by other observations altogether. A clear description should be given indicating why the Herschel capabilities are unique in advancing knowledge in the proposed area of research.

Science exploitation plan. This section should contain a brief description of the plans to exploit the data from the scientific point of view in the first year after the observations have been made. The science plan should be readily comprehensible to broad-based scientists.

Relation to other observations. If applicable, it should be outlined here how the proposed Herschel observations will be complemented by other data (past, present or future - Herschel or other facility), whether such other data are essential for the analysis and interpretation and how the Herschel observations may be followed up. Also details of any linked proposals with other observatories should be mentioned. In particular, the need for coordinated observations with XMM-Newton should be justified here. Joint Herschel/XMM-Newton proposals must include here a detailed description of the observations to be performed with XMM-Newton, indicating clearly the observing strategy and number of seconds requested.

Observing strategy. A detailed justification should be given here of the specific observing modes proposed and of the choice of observing parameters made. Arguments should be given here to support the overall observing strategy proposed. Information should be provided about criteria used for target selection, including quantitative descriptions of the expected target flux densities or surface brightness at the relevant wavelengths, required sensitivity, wavelength and coverage strategy (including redundancies).

Observing time requirements. The total amount of time requested in the proposal should be justified here. The numbers provided should be based on the resource estimates calculated by HSpot. For Herschel OT2 proposals the full set of AORs must be submitted in Phase 1. The calculations presented should also demonstrate, if applicable, that the proposers have checked the background and confusion noise expected as derived from the available estimators, as well as the maximum expected flux densities or surface brightness in the fields of view or spectral apertures to be used.

Other special requirements or constraints. Time constraints, concatenations, avoidance angles for chopper orientation, specific position angles for maps, or any other special requirement or constraint entered through HSpot should be justified here. In general, constraints are detrimental to overall mission planning efficiency. The lower efficiency is hidden in the longer average slewing times between observations. As already mentioned in Section 4.5.2, “Spacecraft 'slewing' overhead charges and time constrained observations”, time constrained observations are charged for 10 minutes slew overhead instead of the 3 minutes applicable to non-constrained observations. The overheads applicable to every constrained observation entered through HSpot are automatically charged following the rules defined in Section 4.5.2, “Spacecraft 'slewing' overhead charges and time constrained observations”).

Duplication analysis. Indicate clearly here the result of your duplication checks using HROST and the Herschel Duplication Checker (HDC). If there are potential duplicate observations in the Reserved Observations List please justify here why your proposed observations should not be considered a duplication, or, alternatively, why duplicated observations are requested (e.g. to search for variability).

Robustness against incompletion. Here you should demonstrate that your programme is robust against a potential early end of the mission that could lead to it not having been completed. For non-robust proposals, proposers should demonstrate that their programme is of sufficient interest to justify being awarded high priority time. For non-robust proposals, proposers should demonstrate the capability of their programme to produce valid science even if they are just partially executed.

Data processing and analysis plans: Give a concise explanation of the strategy for data reduction and analysis with a description of available hardware, software and manpower. For small projects this may be a very short statement. Larger projects with more complex data processing needs will be expected to show in adeqaute detail that they can use and process the data that they will receive efficiently and effectively.

Product generation methods. Provide here a careful description of any special software that you plan to use in analysing your data other than HIPE. Use of HIPE, the Herschel specific data processing and interactive analysis software is encouraged in order to make distribution and usage simple to other astronomers.

Team resources and management plan. This section should include an explanation of the strengths and track records of the team that make it appropriate for the project. It should contain a summary of staff and other resources that will be committed to the programme. For proposals with a large number of applicants, describe briefly the team management plan and organisational structure.

Outreach activities. This section should outline your plans on the publication and dissemination of the science results obtained with Herschel to a wider audience than the Herschel community itself. In particular, any systematic efforts planned on the area of sharing the new scientific knowledge provided by Herschel with the general public through outreach activities will be considered as a bonus in the evaluation process.