Utilizing ARK, the Astrophysics Research Knowledgebase,
a service of
NASA's High Energy Astrophysics
Science Archive Research Center, RPS provides a
facility for filling out the RXTE Observation Request forms. Electronic
submission of the forms is required. The scientific justification must also be
submitted electronically, uploaded as a PDF file after the initial submission
of the electronic proposal forms. Please note that this PDF cannot exceed
one page in length or 10MB in size.
In order to access the RXTE RPS web form, you must first
create an ARK account and/or join the XTE
group.
If you already have an ARK account, login first and select "Join Group"
from the menu next to "RXTE RPS (XTE)" and then click on the
Submit Changes button.
If you do not already have an ARK account, enter your e-mail address in
the input field provided and click on the check box next to "RXTE RPS
(XTE)" and then click on the Join ARK button. Check your e-mail
and click on the activation code found therein. Fill out the ARK registration
form and submit.
Next, proceed to the RXTE RPS web form and fill
out the form as directed below. Targets can be added at the end of the form
or by clicking the Add Targets button at the top or bottom of the
page. The Add Targets button can be used to add blank targets or by
uploading a plain text file
containing a list of target names and/or positions. Please note that this
method will only fill in the fields for the target name and pointing
position; you will still need to enter other information (observation time,
instrument parameters, constraints, etc.) for each observation using the web
interface. Alternatively, after adding some targets, you can
use the Save button to download a
plain text representation of the ARK form, which you can edit and then
Reload into ARK. Note that the file format used by the Reload
mechanism is the same as the format of the files generated by the Save
button.
After you have filled out the form, click the Verify button to
make sure you have entered the form information correctly. If the form does
not validate, ARK/RPS will identify the reason(s) for non-verification.
Once the form verifies successfully, a Submit button will appear,
allowing you to you to submit the proposal to RPS.
The PostScript, PDF, and LaTeX buttons can be used to
generate formatted versions of the proposal forms. We recommend that PIs keep
formatted copies of the forms for their personal records, but it is not a
required part of the proposal submission process.
After clicking on the Submit button, go to your
Recent Activity page. Summary information for the
proposal that you just submitted should be listed here, indicating that you
have successfully submitted your RXTE proposal forms to ARK/RPS. You may now
upload your scientific justification (in PDF format). From the
Recent Activity page, click on the Files
button next to the proposal you submitted, and then click on the
Upload button and follow the instructions on that page. After you have
successfully uploaded your scientific justification, you have completed your
RPS electronic submission.
Note: After submission and before the proposal deadline, you may still
Modify or Discard your proposal using the appropriate buttons
on the Recent Activity page. The Files
button also enables you to Download, Discard, or Replace
any file that you previously uploaded.
Additional information on how to use RPS and the answers to some
frequently asked questions can be found on the
RPS Quick Help page.
Short descriptions of the forms and fields are below. The fields are
listed in the same order as found on the web page. The labels for the fields
in the web form will link to the appropriate field description below.
The section of the form contains fields for the proposal title, abstract, the
type of proposal, and information about the Principal Investigator (name,
institution, address, telephone number, etc.).
The type of object(s) to be studied in the proposal. Required. Specify one of
the following categories:
STARS
CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES
PULSARS
LMXB
HMXB
BLACK HOLE CANDIDATES
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS AND GALACTIC DIFFUSE EMISSION
NORMAL GALAXIES
AGN
CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES AND SUPERCLUSTERS
OTHER
The title of the proposal (up to 120 characters). Required.
800 characters maximum. Abstracts exceeding this limit must be shortened.
Required.
Your title (Dr., Ms., Mr., Prof.). The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
Your first name. Up to 17 characters are allowed. Required.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
If you like, you may add your middle name or initial(s). Optional.
Up to 12 characters are allowed. The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
Your last name (surname). Up to 27 characters are allowed. Required.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
The name of your department at your institution. Up to 60 characters are allowed.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
Your institutional affiliation. Required.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
The first line of your institution's address, e.g., the street name, any number
within it, etc. Up to 60 characters.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
Your city or town. Up to 32 characters. Required.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
The name of the state/province/prefecture in which your institution is located.
Up to 30 characters. Required. For states in the U.S., please use USPS-standard,
two-letter abbreviations.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
The postal code, ZIP code, or equivalent of your institution. Up to 10
characters.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
The name of the country in which your institution is located. Required.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
If your country is not listed, please contact the
RPS Help Desk.
Your telephone number, plus any extension. Please include the international
prefix if appropriate.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
Your fax number, if available. 24 characters allowed.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
Your e-mail address. Up to 60 characters. Required. An e-mail receipt will
be sent to this address within 24 hours of the electronic submission
of your proposal, if the e-mail receipt option is checked in your
ARK user profile.
The value for this field comes from your
ARK user profile. If it is incorrect,
update your ARK user profile prior to proposal submission.
This form contains details of your collaborators, if any, and additional
contact information. Up to 10 Co-Investigators are allowed.
The first name of each Co-Investigator. Up to 20 characters.
The last name of each Co-Investigator. Up to 20 characters.
The institution for each Co-Investigator. Up to 60 characters. Please refer to
the List of Institutions Recognized by
RPS and use the official name of the institution wherever possible.
Note: If your Co-I's institution is not among those listed, please contact the
RPS
Help Desk and request that it be added to the list. Such requests are
typically answered within 24 hours.
The country for each Co-Investigator. If a country is not listed, please
contact us at the
RPS Help
Desk and request that it be added to the list.
The e-mail address for each Co-Investigator. Up to 60 characters.
Flag indicating whether or not the first Co-Investigator listed is also a
contact person in cases where the Principal Investigator cannot be reached.
The default is no.
Telephone number of the Co-Investigator that should be contacted. 20
characters.
If there are NASA civil servants among the team (either PI or Co-I), enter
the estimated total full-time-equivalent effort (in units of years) that
the NASA employees are expected spend on this project. Required.
If this proposal is essentially an extension of an existing Cycle 12
proposal, please supply the Cycle 12 proposal number here. This will allow
the Peer Review committee to evaluate the proposal in the context of the
science return from Cycle 12. Keep in mind that proposals which duplicate the
Cycle 13 Core Program
observations will not be accepted.
The details that need to be filled in for each different target.
If proposing both high and low telemetry modes for a source (depending
on its state), please fill out a separate target form for each set of
configurations. For monitoring campaigns that have several types of
spacing (i.e. 'daily for 2 weeks, then monthly for the AO'), or have
uneven time distribution, please fill out a separate target form for
each different type. For monitoring campaigns with logarithmic sampling,
one form will suffice (as this is a special handling request).
The commonly accepted name for the object. Up to 20 characters. Required.
Please use standard names for known targets (e.g., NGC 2237 or Eta Car).
The J2000 right ascension of the source. The value can be entered in either
sexagesimal format (HH MM SS.SS — hours, minutes, seconds,
separated by spaces) or decimal degrees format (DDD.DDDDDD). If you enter the
value in sexagesimal format, it will be converted to decimal degrees format
when you submit. Required.
The J2000 declination of the source. The value can be entered in either
sexagesimal format (±DD MM SS.S — an optional sign,
either + or -, followed by the degrees, minutes, and seconds, separated by
spaces) or decimal degrees format (±DD.DDDDD). If you enter the value
in sexagesimal format, it will be converted to decimal degrees format when
you submit. If you do not specify the sign, it is assumed to be positive.
Required.
The preferred duration in kiloseconds of the observation. This is the
total observation time, so for monitoring observations, this is the
sum of all pointings. For example, for two observations of 40 ksec each,
specify 80 ksec as the Total Observation Time and 2 for the
Number of Observations. The minimum Total Observation Time for one target
is 1 ksec. Required.
Indicates that this is a scanning observation. Details of the observations
should be entered into the Remarks fields.
Number of observations of the target. This should be 1 unless
constraints are specified. For monitoring observations this will give the
number of parts into which the total exposure will be evenly divided.
Monitoring that requires uneven splitting (such as an initial long stare,
followed by monthly short pointings) should be indicated in the Remarks field.
Number of constraints specified for a particular target.
Source count rate in counts/sec typical of the faint state of the
source; optional; ignore if the source is steady.
Source count rate in counts/sec typical of the bright state of the source.
Required. For steady sources, it is sufficient to use the sum of the
mean count rates for each of the six PCA bands.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 1. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 2. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 3. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 4. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 5. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 6. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 1. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 2. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 3. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Source count rate in counts/sec for band 4. The bands are defined in the
output of PIMMS.
Maximum source count rate in counts/sec. Required.
The particular configuration desired for the PCA data that will be
processed by the EDS. The general format for, as an example, an event
configuration is:
X_NNuu_Ng_L_rr example: E_2us_8A_0_8s
where X is the mode (B = binned, E = Event, SB = single bit, F = Fourier,
etc.), NNuu = time resolution in microsec (us) or in millisec (ms), N = no.
of channels and their grouping (g), L = low channel cutoff (most modes also
have a high channel cutoff), rr = readout time (generally in seconds).
Details for all configurations are available in Appendix F of the RXTE NRA.
The software tool 'recommd' (Web
interface or stand-alone code that you can download and compile from our
anonymous FTP
area) will provide guidance in specifying the PCA/EDS configuration. If
you do not wish a configuration for a particular EA, then specify IDLE. No
more than three IDLE configurations are allowed. Do not use NULL for a
configuration. A listing of valid
PCA/EDS configurations is also available.
Note: For all sources with total
PCA count rates less than 1200 ct/s (including all extragalactic
observations) and HEXTE count rates less than 80 ct/s, the SOC strongly
recommends that proposers choose the following set of instrument
configurations:
PCA EA3: GoodXenon1_2s
PCA EA4: GoodXenon2_2s
PCA EA5: Idle
PCA EA6: Idle
HEXTE Cluster A: E_8us_256_DX1f
HEXTE Cluster B: E_8us_256_DX1f
The particular configuration desired for the HEXTE data processing.
The configuration string will resemble the PCA configuration string
(as described above). Chapter 10 of Appendix F lists the available
configurations. The software code 'HEXTEmporize' will provide some
guidance in choosing an appropriate configuration based upon count
rates in 4 spectral bands. 'HEXTEmporize', a small stand-alone program,
is available from the
HEASARC anonymous FTP account. Note that IDLE is no longer a valid
HEXTE Cluster Mode.
Low energy boundary in keV below which source counts will be ignored. Used to
reduce the telemetry rate when softer photons are undesirable. Range: 10-30
keV in 1 keV steps. The default value for this field is DEFAULT. When DEFAULT
is chosen by the proposer, the operations team will use the Instrument
Team-specified default. The default values determined during IOC are: Low
Energy Bound = 12 keV; Source Dwell Time = 16 sec; Switching Angle = +/- 1.5
degrees. These values are subject to change at the discretion of the HEXTE
team. All proposers requesting "DEFAULT" will have the HEXTE team default
values in effect at the time of their observation.
This is the on-source exposure time. The choices are continuous stare, 16,
32, 64, and 128 seconds. The default value for this field is DEFAULT. (See
description above.)
The beam switch angle for the cluster. Choices are 0 degrees (stare),
+1.5 degrees, -1.5 degrees, +3 degrees, -3 degrees, (all single-sided
rocking), and +/-1.5 degrees and +/-3 degrees (both double-sided
rocking). The default value for this field is DEFAULT. (See
description above.)
Range of options for the burst trigger setting. Choices are NO,
EDS, OTHER, or INTERNAL. The default value for this field is NO.
The particular configuration desired for the HEXTE data processing.
The configuration string will resemble the PCA configuration string
(as described above). Chapter 10 of Appendix F lists the available
configurations. The software code 'HEXTEmporize' will provide some
guidance in choosing an appropriate configuration based upon count
rates in 4 spectral bands. 'HEXTEmporize', a small stand-alone program,
is available from the
HEASARC anonymous FTP account. Note that IDLE is no longer a valid
HEXTE Cluster Mode.
Low energy boundary in keV below which source counts will be ignored. Used to
reduce the telemetry rate when softer photons are undesirable. Range: 10-30
keV in 1 keV steps. The default value for this field is DEFAULT. (See
description above.)
This is the on-source exposure time. The choices are continuous stare, 16,
32, 64, and 128 seconds. The default value for this field is DEFAULT. (See
description above.)
The beam switch angle for the cluster. Choices are 0 degrees (stare),
+1.5 degrees, -1.5 degrees, +3 degrees, -3 degrees, (all single-sided
rocking), and +/-1.5 degrees and +/-3 degrees (both double-sided
rocking). The default value for this field is DEFAULT. (See
description above.)
Range of options for the burst trigger setting. Choices are NO,
EDS, OTHER, or INTERNAL. The default value for this field is NO.
Any relevant comments you wish to make regarding the target
and the observation mode. Up to 400 characters.
This section contains the details for any time-critical observation. The
following types of constraint are possible:
Coordinated: In a fixed time-window
Time of Day: At a fixed time of day
Monitoring: Samples at a given interval
Phase dependent: Samples at a given phase
Contiguous: Not split into many slots
Target of Opportunity: TOO triggered by ASM Count Rate
Other TOO: TOO triggered by other observations
Indicates if the observation is linked with other simultaneous
observations. If the exact co-ordinated times are known, choose Y.
Choose U if the observation is to be co-ordinated, but the time
is still unknown. If Y is chosen, the start and end times must
be given in UT (year, month, day, hour, minute). See the AO document
for the anticipated dates for the AO period. The default is no.
Up to 4 coordinated observations per month, chosen by the peer review panel,
will be accepted with the GO's request for special handling. For these
observations, the SOC will accommodate changes in the requested time of the
observation up to 60 days prior to the start of the coordinated observation.
The proposer may elect to place the proposed observation in this category;
the appropriateness of the "special handling" flag will be reviewed during
the proposal selection process. The default is no.
The year to start time-critical observations.
The month to start time-critical observations.
The day to start time-critical observations.
The hour to start time-critical observations.
The minute to start time-critical observations.
The year to end time-critical observations.
The month to end time-critical observations.
The day to end time-critical observations.
The hour to end time-critical observations.
The minute to end time-critical observations.
Indicates that the observation is linked with other simultaneous
observations, making the exact time of day of the observation important.
The start and end times must be given in UT (hour, minute). The default
is no.
The hour to start for time-critical observations.
The minute to start for time-critical observations.
The hour to stop for time-critical observations.
The minute to stop for time-critical observations.
Indicates whether the observation is to be made in several parts at fixed
intervals but with no fixed starting time. The number of parts is
specified on the target form in the "Number of Observations" field.
The default is no.
The desired minimum time interval between monitoring observations, in
kiloseconds.
The desired maximum time interval between monitoring observations, in
kiloseconds.
Indicates that the observation is to be spread over a number of intervals
with a fixed interval between them and a given reference date. The Epoch
is the reference date given in MJD and the Period is the orbital period of
the source in days. The Minimum (Start) and Maximum (End) Phase are the
minimum and maximum orbital phase. The default is no.
For phase dependent observations, the reference date in Modified Julian
Day (MJD) number format. The observations will be made at an integral
number of Periods from this date.
The period for the ephemeris, in days.
Minimum or starting orbital phase to be observed. Values must be between 0
and 1.
Maximum or ending orbital phase to be observed. Values must be between 0 and 1.
For phase dependent observations, the reference date (MJD) of the second phase.
The period for the ephemeris, in days.
Second phase at which an observation should begin. Values must be between 0
and 1.
Second phase at which an observation should end. Values must be between 0
and 1.
Used to indicate that the observation should be uninterrupted for the
minimum time specified. The default is no.
The minimum desired time, in kiloseconds, that RXTE must be locked on target,
without slewing to another source, but still allowing interruptions for
occultations, SAA passage, etc.
The minimum desired time, in kiloseconds, for a good time interval before the
next orbital event (occultation or SAA).
Used to indicate that this object is a Target of Opportunity. The default is
N (no).
The All-Sky Monitor (ASM) count rate above which will trigger the observation.
The All-Sky Monitor (ASM) count rate below which will trigger the observation.
Used to indicate that this is a TOO triggered by other observations.
The default is no.
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