Proposal types & observing modes

1. Large Programmes (LPs): total requested time ≥ 200hrs, split over several periods

2. Normal Observing Programmes (NP): total requested time ≤ 199hrs

3. Short observing programmes for young scientists (SP-young): total requested time ≤ 50hrs

4. Target of opportunity (ToO)

5. Discretionary Director Time (DDT): total requested time ≤ 20hrs

ToO includes unpredictable astronomical events that require immediate observations, and known transient phenomena. 

DDT proposals can be submitted anytime, for urgent and high-impact science cases or pilot projects.

Observations are executed in Service Mode (SM). For NPs, slots of Visitor Mode (VM) can also be requested.

For SP-Young, observations of the first ranked project can be executed in VM, and travels and lodging are covered by the VSTCentre.

Available Observing Time at VST

Taking into account the large programs approved in P3, the available time offered at the VST through INAF-TAC is distributed as follows:

• Category A, ITALY: 85% allocated to INAF, Italian universities, or other public Italian research institutes. This includes approximately 570 hours in dark/grey time and 950 hours in bright time.

• Category B, CHILE: 10% (~320 hrs) allocated to Chilean research institutes;

• NEW! Category C, OTHER: 5% (~80 hrs/year) available to scientists affiliated with any foreign institution.

Who can apply? Time allocation policy

The policy described below applies only to proposals submitted under Category A, ITALY. Proposals submitted under Category B and Category C are not subject to any specific policy.

• For NPs, LPs, ToO and DDT, the Principal Investigator (PI) and at least half of the participants must be affiliated to an Italian Institution (INAF, Universities or other public Italian research institutes). Up to 50% of the total number of applicants might be scientists belonging to foreign institutions. 

• For SP-young proposals, the PI must be an Italian PhD student or a young post-doc (i.e., at the 1st post-doctoral fellowship or no more than 3 years from the PhD) affiliated to ANY Italian or foreign institution. 

Proposals that do not meet the above requirements will not be evaluated by the Time Allocation Committee (TAC).

Proposal preparation & submission

To apply for the VST observing time

1. Proposals shall be prepared in PDF by using the template available at this link

2. All proposals must respect the anonymization rules as described in the Call for Proposals 

3. Proposals shall be submitted using the Google form available at this link

Please, consult this link to compute how many dark nights are available in the P4 cycle

Proposal evaluation

All the submitted proposals, received by the deadline, will be evaluated according to the following steps:

1. the proposed science only will be evaluated by reviewers who are experts in the science field declared by the PI. Reviewers are anonymous. The PIs (by default) and two to five CoIs for each proposal are asked to referee others VST proposals. In addition, scientists from the board of reviewers, are also involved into the review process for the VST proposals;

2. the feasibility of the observations will be reviewed by the team of astronomers who are serving the VST Centre;

3. the scores and reports provided by the two channels listed above will be delivered to the INAF TAC, which is in charge for the final ranking and evaluation.

Publications & Data Release

According to the Art.6 of the INAF-ESO agreement, PIs of the accepted proposals are asked to consider the following rules:

1. publications based on VST data shall make the following statement: “Based on data collected with the INAF VST telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory”

2. provide the processed VST images to the ESO science archive through the phase 3 facility, once the proprietary period is expired.