The deadline for proposal submission for Period 109 (1 April 2022 - 30 September 2022) was 23 September, 2021. The number of submitted proposals for Period 109 was 878, similar to that in previous Periods, so the plateau in the number of submitted proposals observed since several years remains. On the VLT the most requested instrument was MUSE with 255 requested nights, followed by X-Shooter with 252 nights, UVES (138n), ESPRESSO-1UT (132n) and CRIRES (122n). HARPS on the 3.6-metre telescope was the most demanded instrument at La Silla, with a request of 154 nights.
ESO Period 109 Proposal Submission Statistics
Published: 15 Oct 2021
In Paranal, the telescope with the highest oversubscription was UT3-Melipal, with a total request of 447 nights, followed by UT4-Yepun (356 nights), UT2-Kueyen (215 nights) and UT1-Antu (190 nights). ESPRESSO-1UT programmes will be assigned to UT1 and UT2 preferentially, so that the time is balanced across the UTs. Following the steady trend observed during the last years, the request for Service Mode still exceeds 80%.
The percentages of submitted proposals across science categories were:
- Cosmology and Intergalactic Medium 16.0%
- Galaxies 21.8%
- ISM, Star Formation & Planetary Systems 36.5%
- Stellar Evolution 25.7%.
Proposals will be reviewed by the Observing Programmes Committee, which meets in November. Proposers will be informed of the outcome of the review process by the end of the year.