Celebrating 75 Years of Discovery

Applying for Telescope Time

Observing at Palomar begins with the semi-annual calls for telescope time proposals issued by the various Palomar constituencies:

The COO Proposal Solicitation link has Caltech-specific information on the Palomar proposal process, but some of this information may be of interest to astronomers from other constituencies as well. In particular we call your attention to the Caltech Target of Opportunity Observing (ToO) page (including both ToO policy and ToO log), and the Caltech Large Project proposals. Caltech proposals are also solicited for a limited percentage of time on the 60-inch telescope (P60) and Samuel Oschin 48-inch Telescope (P48).

Observing schedules for all Palomar telescopes are set based on institutional allocations and project selection made within each constituency. Eligibility and observing time allocation questions should be directed to the appropriate institutional representative.

Questions? We've answered many common observing and operations questions in our observer FAQ page.
Please share your feedback on this page or any other Palomar topic at the COO Feedback portal.

Applying for Time / v 1.0.2
Last updated: 3 February 2021 AFB/ACM