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WHAT OBSERVERS WITH SERVICE TIME NEED TO KNOW
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     ALL OBSERVERS WHO HAVE BEEN AWARDED TIME MUST HAVE THE FIRST
     VERSIONS OF THEIR OBSERVING TEMPLATES SENT TO ADRIC RIEDEL
        (GSU SMARTS FELLOW) 7 DAYS BEFORE THEIR RUN STARTS    
                   (riedel @ chara . gsu . edu)

                     ----- NO EXCEPTIONS -----

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      NON-SIDEREAL TRACKING PROGRAMS WILL NOT BE SUPPORTED VIA 
                     SERVICE TIME AT THE 0.9M
         THEY CAN BE PROPOSED AND CARRIED OUT VIA USER TIME

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This document outlines the duties of proposers who have service time
on the CTIO 0.9m.  This includes both NOAO and SMARTS observers.  It
is the observer's responsibility to carefully consider all relevant
information at the Georgia State University (GSU) SMARTS website at

               http://www.chara.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS

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1. NOTIFICATION SCHEDULE
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If you have service time scheduled, Adric Riedel, the GSU SMARTS
Fellow will contact you for your observing template on the following
schedule:

	21 days before your first night example template sent
	14 days before your first night reminder
	10 days before your first night reminder
	 7 days before your first night *** HARD DEADLINE ***

IF WE DO NOT RECEIVE YOUR TEMPLATE AT LEAST 7 DAYS BEFORE YOUR FIRST
NIGHT, YOUR PROGRAM IS CANCELLED.

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2. BASIC INFORMATION
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You will need to answer the following questions:

   (a) Have you been awarded your observing time via the SMARTS, NOAO,
       or Chilean Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC)?

   (b) What conditions do you need for your observations?
       Photometric?  Non-photometric ok?  Seeing better than 2"?

   (c) Will you be using the FULL chip (13.6 arcmin) or QUARTER chip
       (6.8 arcmin) mode?

   (d) What filters will you need for your observations?

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3. INSTRUMENT SETUP FORM
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You must fill out an instrument form at

        http://www.ctio.noao.edu/forms/supportforms/visitor_support.html

You should send this in at least TWO WEEKS before the first night of
your observing run.  This allows us to catch any problems, such as
whether or not your requested filters are scheduled for a user at
another telescope.

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4. OBSERVING TEMPLATE
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WARNING! THIS TAKES FAR MORE WORK THAN YOU PROBABLY ANTICIPATE, SO
START EARLY!

You will be sent a blank observing template from the GSU scheduling
team.  Again, you must fill this out and return it *** 7 DAYS ***
before your observing run.  Some rules for filling out the form:

   (a) The form returned MUST BE IN ASCII FORMAT.

   (b) Every field you want observed must have a finder chart, with a
       website where that finder chart can be found.  The finder chart
       must have the following information on it:

			coordinates
			N/E directions
			scale (i.e. 10 arcmin on a side)
			target marked

   (c) There exists an exposure calculator for this telescope/CCD
       combination in IRAF.  There is a more convenient (and probably
       more current) version accessible via a web interface at:

              http://www.noao.edu/gateway/ccdtime/ 

       Set the CTIO instrument: to "0.9-m: Cass Direct CCD", set the
       Integration time in seconds: to "INDEF", and set everything
       else the way you need it (CCD summing factor is usually set to
       1x1), and click Execute.

   Once your observing template has been examined (and likely revised)
   by the GSU SMARTS Team, you can check it on the nightly schedule
   website at:

        http://www.chara.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/scheduleYYYYA.htm, or
        http://www.chara.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/scheduleYYYYB.htm

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5. LEARNING ABOUT THE 0.9M
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   Even if you are not traveling to CTIO, you should familiarize
   yourself with operations at the 0.9m.  For some details (some of
   which will be useful for you, some not --- this is mainly to give
   you the flavor), see

        http://www.chara.gsu.edu/~thenry/SMARTS/smarts.observing

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6. GETTING YOUR DATA
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   For data acquired via service mode, the GSU 0.9m SMARTS Fellow (as
   of JUL 2009, Adric Riedel) will ftp the data back to a staging area
   at GSU.  You will be given instructions on how to retrieve your
   data shortly after the observations are taken.

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************* YOU WILL HAVE 30 DAYS TO RETRIEVE YOUR DATA ************
****** IF YOU WAIT LONGER THAN THAT, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN PERIL *****
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