The Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) invites scientists to participate in the call for proposals of observing time at the three national radio telescopes: the 32-m Medicina antenna, the 32-m Noto antenna, the 64-m Sardinia Radio Telescope. Two observing semesters are scheduled every year: 1st January to 30th June, 1st July to 31st December. Deadlines fall in October and April, respectively. The telescopes can be used as single dishes for spectroscopic and continuum observations as well as for VLBI, outside the standard networks coordination (EVN, IVS, etc.) which have their own time allocations. VLBI proposers must take care of organising the availability of international telescopes if needed by their observations. They are also required to contact the antenna staff prior to submission, in order to assess the availability of software/hardware services and operators for their specific needs. Please note that, if granted antenna time, proposers will be in charge of producing the schedule files for their observations. Instructions on the submission procedure, current latex forms and characteristics of the instruments currently available can be found at http://www.radiotelescopes.inaf.it/proposal_main.html ** IMPORTANT ** PLEASE USE ONLY THE LATEST LATEX FORM ** A dedicated help desk for the submission only may be reached via e-mail at radioproposal@inaf.it. The proposals will be peer-reviewed and should be submitted before 12:00 UTC on October 17, 2023. Below we report the time INAF plans to award for the next semester 2024A: Medicina: 2500 hours (1); Noto: 2000 hours (2); SRT: 1500 hours (3). Please note: Noto single-dish observations can now be carried out remotely, as in Medicina. 1) **** MEDICINA ACTIVE SURFACE INSTALLATION **** At some point during semester 2024A, the Medicina dish might be stopped in order to start the installation of the active surface on its primary mirror. The exact timing is not known at the moment. 2) **** NOTO RECEIVERS ONLY PARTIALLY AVAILABLE **** Due to refurbishments and new installations, some receivers in Noto are only partially available or are offered in shared-risk mode. Details are provided in the above-mentioned website. 3) **** SRT IN SHARED-RISK MODE **** SRT is in a high frequency upgrade phase. In the 2024A semester it is offered in "shared-risk" mode and with a limited number of receivers. The observing time offered might be subject to modification, due to maintenance needs and to the variability of the commitments resulting from international agreements. SRT participates in the Transnational Access program of the Opticon Radionet Pilot program. The program can give financial support to a member of eligible projects, to visit SRT for the observations. The Opticon RadioNet Pilot program is funded by the EC Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No. 101004719 (https://www.orp-h2020.eu/) According to the MOU between INAF and KASI up to 30 hours of observing time in VLBI mode are allocated to approved Eating VLBI projects. These projects have to be submitted both to the Italian and Korean TACs with the standard form selecting "EatingVLBI mode" in the project type. Approved projects will be observed up to 30hrs/semester. Projects exceeding 30 hours will be scheduled together with all other projects according to their relative grades. PIs of these proposals must be associated either with INAF or KASI. Please, feel free to distribute the present call to anyone interested. Best regards, Federica Govoni and Gianfranco Brunetti

We are pleased to release the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) Call for Proposals for the observing season 2024-S1. This LMT Call for Proposals offers the opportunity to conduct night-time observations with the LMT in the period 8th January to 30th September 2024. All proposals must be received before the deadline at 06:00 UTC 29th September. Details, instructions, and resources on how to prepare and submit a scientific proposal to the LMT can be found on the “Proposal Guidance” information page. If you have any questions about the submission process, or the information provided, please contact the LMT Help Desk at https://sites.google.com/umass.edu/lmthelpdesk/home.

The Call for proposals for the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope is open. Please see our recent Newsletter for more information and details about technical specifications, observing modes and the submission process in the link.

We wish to draw your attention to the next Call for Standard and SAO Large Scale Observing Proposals for observations with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). This call is for the 2023B semester, with the observing period 16 Nov 2023 – 15 May 2024. We wish to highlight important upgrades to the data reduction path, which now include the ability to convert raw or calibrated SMA data into MeasurementSet format for reduction and/or imaging within CASA. The full Call for Proposals, with details on time available and the proposal process is available now at the SMA Observer Center (SMAOC) at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/call.html. Details on the SMA capabilities and status can be found at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/status.html; proposal creation and submission is also done through the SMAOC at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/proposing.html. We are happy to answer questions and provide assistance in proposal submission, simply email sma-propose@cfa.harvard.edu with any inquiries. Sincerely, Mark Gurwell, SAO Chair, SMA TAC, and Ya-Wen Tang, ASIAA Chair, SMA TAC.

We want to bring to your attention that a new Call for Proposals for IRAM telescopes is available at our web page: https://iram-institute.org/science-portal/proposals/call-for-proposals/. A detailed description of the observing capabilities of the 30m telescope and the current status of the NOEMA interferometer are given in two separate documents as follows: https://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/calls/w23/30mCapabilities.pdf, https://www.iram.fr/GENERAL/calls/w23/NOEMACapabilities.pdf. Proposals should be submitted through the Proposal Management System (PMS) at: https://oms.iram.fr/oms/?pms=frontpage. With our best regards, Carsten Kramer & Jan Martin Winters. Note: by mutual agreement, IRAM and the Submillimeter Array cross-post each other's Calls for Proposals, in order to inform the astronomical community of our open facilities for mm/submm imaging and spectroscopy.

NRAO Call for Proposals: Semester 2024A. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites scientists to participate in the Semester 2024A Call for Proposals for the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), High Sensitivity Array (HSA), and Global mm VLBI Array (GMVA). The submission deadline for Semester 2024A proposals is Wednesday, 2 August 2023, at 17:00 EDT (21:00 UTC). We would like to highlight a new opportunity for joint observations between NICER and the NRAO. Please see Joint Proposals for more information. Proposal preparation and submission are handled via the NRAO Proposal Submission Tool (PST) available at NRAO Interactive Services. Proposers who need assistance with proposal preparation or have questions regarding the Call for Proposals or NRAO telescope capabilities should contact Observatory staff via the NRAO Helpdesk. Note that using these tools (both the PST and the Helpdesk) requires registration. See the NRAO Call for Proposals Page for further information regarding the upcoming Call for proposals. View the complete Semester 2024 Call for Proposals online.

The purpose of this pre-announcement is to highlight aspects of the CfP to assist with early planning. General information. ALMA Cycle 10 will start in October 2023. In the main 12-m Array, antenna configurations C-1 to C-8 (with maximum baselines between 0.16 and 8.5 km) will be offered. The number of hours to be available for approved science observations will be announced in the CfP. Projects with observations in the highest-frequency Bands 8, 9, and 10 are strongly encouraged. Proposers are encouraged to submit ACA stand-alone observations for targets that can be observed in the LST range of 20h to 10h. 12 Apr 2023: Release of the ALMA Cycle 10 CfP and Observing Tool, and opening of the archive for proposal submission. The proposal types in Cycle 10 will be the same as those in Cycle 9. Principal Investigators submitting a proposal to ALMA for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations in ALMA Bands 1 or 3 made in concert with the Global mm-VLBI Array (GMVA) at 7mm and 3 mm must also submit a proposal to the GMVA by its 1 February 2023 deadline. New in Cycle 10: The following technical capabilities will be available this Cycle for the first time: Band 1 on the 12-m Array and for Stokes I only (no Stokes Q/U/V), anticipated to be available from March 2024. Spectral scans that include Total Power observations. 4x4-bit spectral modes for improved sensitivity on the 12-m Array (dual polarization). Solar observations in full polarization in Band 3 using only the 12-m Array. Phased array mode in Bands 1, 3, 6 and 7 (the total time available for this mode is expected to be capped at approximately 50 hours) VLBI in Bands 1, 3, 6 and 7, including flexible tuning for spectral lines. New in Cycle 10 will be the availability of Joint Proposals with other facilities, including the Space Telescope Science Institute’s James Webb Space Telescope, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array, and the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. Also new this Cycle, Band-to-band phase calibration will be available for high frequency observations on both the 7-m Array and all 12-m Array configurations. The total time available for projects needing band-to-band phase calibration is expected to be capped. All proposals requesting fewer than 50 hours on the 12-m Array, and ACA stand-alone proposals requesting fewer than 150 hours on the 7-m Array will be reviewed through the distributed peer review system. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the ALMA Helpdesk at https://help.almascience.org. Sincerely, Catherine Vlahakis NA ARC Manager, cvlahaki@nrao.edu

We wish to draw your attention to the next Call for Standard and SAO Large Scale Observing Proposals for observations with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). This call is for the 2023A semester, with observing period 23 May 2023 – 15 Nov 2023. SAO Large Scale Proposals also require submission of a Notice of Intent in advance of the proposal deadline; please see the Call for Proposals for details. The full Call for Proposals, with details on time available and the proposal process is available now at the SMA Observer Center (SMAOC) at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/call.html. Details on the SMA capabilities and status can be found at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/status.html; proposal creation and submission is also done through the SMAOC at http://sma1.sma.hawaii.edu/proposing.html. We are happy to answer questions and provide assistance in proposal submission, simply email sma-propose@cfa.harvard.edu with any inquiries. Sincerely, Mark Gurwell, SAO Chair, SMA TAC

A quick update here regarding the ALMA Cycle 10 Pre-Announcement that was recently released, including new Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) capabilities. A reminder: Principal Investigators who submit a proposal to ALMA for VLBI observations in ALMA Bands 1 or 3, made in concert with the Global mm-VLBI Array (GMVA) at 7mm and 3 mm, must also submit a proposal to the GMVA by its 01 February 2023 deadline: https://science.nrao.edu/observing/call-for-proposals/2023b/vlba-proposal-guide. The attached figure illustrates one of the successful Band 1 ALMA–Very Long Baseline Array tests. Proposals that employ this exciting new capability are encouraged. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the ALMA Helpdesk at https://help.almascience.org. Sincerely, Catherine Vlahakis, NA ARC Manager

The Green Bank Observatory (GBO) invites scientists to participate in the 2023B Semester Call for Proposals for the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). Special Opportunities: The GBO would like to highlight the following two special opportunities for observing with the GBT. 1) Low frequency (below 8 GHz) projects, especially those that may require significant amounts of observing time per source or field, are strongly encouraged. Observations up to 200 hours per source or field at low frequencies is not unreasonable for the less subscribed LST ranges. Please see the LST pressure plots in the Proposal Results for previou semesters at https://greenbankobservatory.org/science/gbt-observers/proposals/past-proposal-calls/. 2) Drift scans. There could be up to 678 hours available for drift scan observations in the 23A semester and another 604 hours could be available in the 23B semester. We would like to remind proposers that their submissions will be peer reviewed by a panel with a wide ranging background in astronomy. Virtual Proposal Planning Office Hours will be held January 25, 26, and 30. To learn more and register visit https://greenbankobservatory.org/science/meetings-and-workshops/proposal-planning-workshop/. The Ultrawideband Receiver (UWBR) will be offered for shared-risk observing in the 23B semester. Proposal preparation and submission remain via the NRAO Proposal Submission Tool (PST) available at https://my.nrao.edu/ Proposers who need assistance with proposal preparation or have questions regarding the call or GBT capabilities should contact Observatory staff via the Helpdesk at https://help.nrao.edu. Note that use of the PST and Helpdesk requires registration. We strongly encourage proposers to carefully read through the "News and Opportunities" section in the full proposal call.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) invites scientists to participate in the Semester 2023B Call for Proposals for the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), High Sensitivity Array (HSA), and Global mm VLBI Array (GMVA). We would like to highlight a new opportunity for joint observations between ALMA and the VLA. Please see Joint Proposals for more information. We note that NRAO accepts Large Proposals that require at least 200 hours of observing time, and we particularly encourage the submission of Large Proposals for the VLBA. Please see the VLBA, HSA, and GVMA Proposal Guide for more information. Proposal preparation and submission are handled via the NRAO Proposal Submission Tool (PST) available at NRAO Interactive Services. Proposers who need assistance with proposal preparation or have questions regarding the Call for Proposals or NRAO telescope capabilities should contact Observatory staff via the NRAO Helpdesk. Note that using these tools (both the PST and the Helpdesk) requires registration.

The Cycle 2 Call for Proposals for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Observations and funding for Archival Research and Theoretical Research programs has been released. Participation in this program is open to all categories of organizations, both domestic and foreign, including educational institutions, profit and nonprofit organizations, NASA Centers, and other Government agencies. The release of the Astronomer's Proposal Tools (APT), required for Proposal Submission is 2022.7.1 or higher, this version will be delivered around November 17, 2023. For opportunities and policies see: https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-opportunities-and-policies. Questions can be addressed to the STScI Help Desk (web: jwsthelp.stsci.edu). To stay tuned to JWST News go to: http://www.stsci.edu/jwst/news-events/news.

The Observatory of Yebes announces the Call for Proposals to observe with the 40 m radiotelescope for the first semester of 2023 in single-dish mode (and VLBI observations not included in the EVN or GMVA calls). The proposal preparation tool, RAYO, can be accesed here: https://rt40m.oan.es/rayo/. We recall that the 40m radiotelescope is also available as part of the European VLBI Network (EVN) and the Global Milimeter VLBI Array (GMVA). Both networks release several Calls for Proposals along the year, three for the EVN and two for the GMVA. With kind regards, Pablo de Vicente

Participará la UNAM en la formación del próximo gran radiotelescopio del mundo.

Find below an excellent opportunity to express your interest for observing in new modes and capabilities with one of the SKA precursors! SARAO has released an Expressions of Interest survey (deadline November 15) for interested prospective users of new modes and capabilities with MeerKAT, such as: Multi-year projects (up to 4 years), regardless of total observing time (e.g., 10 hours per year x 4 years, for a monitoring project); Large OT (LOT) projects, requesting more than 125 hours in total. Typically these would be scheduled over multiple years, subject to relevant constraints (e.g., 100 hours per year x 4 years); Pulsar searching projects; Pulsar timing projects. The survey will be used by SARAO to optimize the next fourth Open Time (OT4) Call for Proposals (CfP) process (which will be out in March 2023, with submission deadline in early May, and results expected in August), and will not be shared with external parties. Marie-Lou Gendron-Marsolais, on behalf of the Spanish SKA coordination team. The 3rd Open Time (OT3) Call for Proposals (CfP) recently concluded with the selection of 72 approved projects. We have started observing the first OT3 projects, and are now preparing for the OT4 CfP. The Call will go out in March 2023, with submission deadline in early May, and results expected in August. SARAO intends to keep to this schedule for future annual OT CfPs. OT4 will offer new proposal modes and capabilities. In order for SARAO to optimize the Call including such proposals, we request that interested prospective users of these new modes and capabilities complete an Expressions of Interest survey by November 15. Please let us know if you have any questions about this request.

Find details in the link.

LMT/GTM deadline

We are pleased to announce to the community a celebratory colloquium series in honor of 65 years of the Green Bank Observatory! The series will feature six notable speakers, each highlighting scientific areas to which the GBO has made significant contributions over the years and the role that GBO telescopes will play in propelling this topic into the future. The 65th Anniversary GBO Colloquium Series will take place on Thursday afternoons throughout September and October (see the complete listing of dates below). Each talk will be a standard hour-long seminar from 2:00 - 3:00 pm ET with time for questions afterward. Please register for the Zoom webinar to receive connection details. Recordings will be made available at the end of each week.

The new configurations will offer the possibility to observe with NOEMA with an unprecedented angular resolution down to below 0.2" for high declination targets at the highest observing frequencies currently available at NOEMA.

The Observatory of Yebes announces the Call for Proposals to observe with the 40 m radiotelescope for the second semester of 2022 in single-dish mode (and VLBI observations not included in the EVN or GMVA calls). The proposal preparation tool, RAYO, can be accesed here: http://rt40m.oan.es/rayo/. We recall that the 40m radiotelescope is also available as part of the European VLBI Network (EVN) and the Global Milimeter VLBI Array (GMVA). Both networks release several Calls for Proposals along the year, three for the EVN and two for the GMVA.

Deadline!

A new Call for Proposals for the FAST telescope is available!

Proposals submitted under this CfP may be led by any researcher (including postdocs and PhD students), regardless of affiliation. The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) invites users to apply for observing time on MeerKAT. A minimum of 1500 hours of telescope time will be awarded through this opportunity. The Call is open for imaging projects only. MeerKAT consists of 64 dishes with superb sensitivity on baselines of up to 8 km. This Call offers continuum and spectral line capabilities employing the UHF (580-1015 MHz) and L-band (900-1670 MHz) receivers. Instructions, documentation, and the tools required to prepare and submit proposals are available on the MeerKAT Knowledge Base.

The NRAO will present an in-depth webinar series in 2022 on topics of interest to the Very Large Array (VLA) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) user community. The intended audience is new and experienced observers, and the webinar topics will include proposing, observing, data reduction, and new developments. Each webinar will allow for live attendance and interaction with Observatory staff via the Zoom platform. The first webinar in this series - VLA / VLBA Call for Proposals Update for Semester 2022B - will be presented at https://go.nrao.edu/cwszoom on Thursday, 20 January, starting at 11:00 MT/13:00 ET/19:00 CET. We anticipate offering six webinars in 2022. Each will feature a one-hour presentation, followed by a Question & Answer session with NRAO scientific staff. Registration is not required. To receive notifications or updates on this webinar series via email, and/or provide feedback, please use the form at https://go.nrao.edu/cws-feedback. We look forward to your participation in this webinar series and hope you will find this format informative. If you have any questions, please contact Frank Schinzel (fschinze@nrao.edu).

The National Science Foundation has awarded NRAO $23 Million for design and development work on the Next Generation Very Large Array, a project proposed as one of the world's next generation of cutting-edge astronomical research facilities. The award includes funding for producing a prototype antenna for this new radio telescope system. This is clearly a major milestone for the project, which has only been made possible by the incredible support that we have received from the entire astronomical community, including the IRyA staff.

The Arecibo radiotelescope has collapsed :( We send our colleagues our big hug from IRyA-UNAM. Arecibo Observatory staff believe one of the remaining suspension cables broke on 1 December, sending the 900-ton instrument platform crashing into the dish. Find here the video catching the precise moment of the collapse: https://youtu.be/EHx1TLj0zvA

ALMA observations of Venus at 267 GHz have been presented in the literature that show the apparent presence of phosphine (PH3) in its atmosphere. Phosphine has currently no evident production routes on the planet's surface or in its atmosphere. The ALMA data were reduced as in the published study, following the provided scripts. First the spectral analysis presented in the study was reproduced and assessed. Subsequently, the spectrum was statistically evaluated, including its dependence on selected ALMA baselines. We find that the 12th-order polynomial fit to the spectral passband utilised in the published study leads to spurious results. Following their recipe, five other >10 sigma lines can be produced in absorption or emission within 60 km/s from the PH3 1-0 transition frequency by suppressing the surrounding noise. Our independent analysis shows a feature near the PH3 frequency at a ~2 sigma level, below the common threshold for statistical significance. Since the spectral data have a non-Gaussian distribution, we consider a feature at such level as statistically unreliable that cannot be linked to a false positive probability. We find that the published 267-GHz ALMA data provide no statistical evidence for phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus.