Community Survey
FAQ

I have a question about the content of the proposal. Who can I ask?

If you have a question, please send an email to cswg-info@cfht.hawaii.edu

Why do I have to provide the exposure times for ESPaDOnS and SPIRou if I only have to include and request the longest exposure time?

The QSO Team will confirm that the exposure times for each instrument will meet the required SNR. We will also check that only the longest exposure time has been included in the total time requested.

Nights are much longer than 5 or 7 hours, why do I have to use the 5h/night or 7h/night factors?

The conversion factors (5h/night for MegaCam and 7h/night for Wenaokeao) include an average of the time lost to bad weather over the course of a year. The factors also take into account time needed to slew the telescope, acquire a field, etc. Those overheads are not charged to the proposers (nor counted in the time requested) but instead are subtracted from the total length of a night.

The instructions say that the plan "shall include information or requirements affecting CFHT", what does that include?

The proposal has to mention expectations that are not commonly requested, such as:

  • real-time analysis requirements
  • specific timing for the observations of standard or calibrations stars (e.g., observing standard right before or right after a certain field or target)
  • calibrations or observations right after sunset (or right before sunrise), before (or after) the 8 degree twilight for Wenaokeao or the 12 degree twilight for MegaCam
  • constraints on the hour angle
  • immediate access (within minutes) to the raw data or the 'quicklook' data

What are the page limits and which sections are optional?

Is there a template?

We provide an Overleaf package and a PDF for illustration.

How and where do we list PI(s), co-Is, collaborators, etc.?

Only one PI can be associated with a proposal. Other co-PIs (e.g., the PIs of other work packages) can be listed as "Collaborators" in Kealahou (see details below). All other co-Is can be listed under the "Co-Investigator" section after "Reference" section in the proposal, and can be uploaded together with Reference. See the template provided for more details.

The co-PIs (or PIs of work packages) can be listed in the "Collaborators" section in Kealahou. The PI and any co-PI will be listed on the front page of the proposal, in a dedicated table.


The co-PIs are invited by the PI to join the proposal. If a co-PI does not accept the invitation sent by Kealahou, their status will be indicated as "Pending" in the proposal. If the Kealahou invitation is accepted, the status will show "Accepted".