Phase II Proposal Roadmap

This is a high level step-by-step guide to writing a Phase II Proposal; there is also a Phase I Roadmap. It assumes that you already have (from Phase I): Targets identified, instrument configurations selected, exposure times calculated, and a visit strategy in mind.

Changes: If anything needs to be changed in what was requested in Phase I (targets, filters, apertures) you will need to talk to your Program Coordinator and/or Contact Scientist. If the change is major (instruments, orbit allocation) you will need to apply to the TTRB for the change. If you need to add or delete a Co-I please e-mail Dr. Claus Leitherer (leitherer@stsci).

  1. Read the e-mails

    You should have received two important e-mails: The award letter from Dr. Sembach contains your Program Coordinator's contact information, the proposal's Phase II Proposal ID number, TAC approved allocation, and TAC comments. A few days after the award letter you should get an e-mail from your PC. Please read both letters.

  2. Install the latest version of APT

    The version of APT that you used in Phase I needs to be replaced with the current release. Please download and install the latest version of APT for Mac OS X, Linux, or Windows.

  3. Get set up to view training movies

    While most of the documentation for APT is available in both flash movie and text form, the movies are better for learning how to use APT the first time. The APT Training Materials page helps you get set up to view the movies.

  4. Get familiar with APT

    Here is some good general getting started documentation:

  5. Start APT and load your Phase I proposal

  6. Convert your Phase I proposal to Phase II proposal

  7. Fill in the remaining Proposal Information

  8. Update the Target Information

    In APT, open the targets folder and fill in the remaining required information for each target.

    (You can use APT's context sensitive help to take you to the appropriate reference for each field, you can click on the links here to get an html version of the appropriate section, or you can bring up the PDF version of the P2PI and navigate to the appropriate section.)

    Note that if you have GSC1 coordinates (from an old proposal), you will need to convert them to GSC2 (ICRS); there is a simple web-based conversion tool available to do the conversion. DSS images from the Phase II download site already have the GSC2 (ICRS) world coordinate system in place, so coordinates measurements will be in the GSC2 (ICRS) reference frame.

  9. Pattern Specification

    You may need to create pattern specifications if you:

    If you do need to create pattern specifications:

  10. Define a Visit

  11. Enter one Exposure

  12. Patterns

    If this exposure will use a pattern specification you have defined you need to create a pattern container

  13. Parallels

    If this exposure will have one or more coordinated parallel exposures, you will need to create a parallel container.

  14. Non-Interruptible Sequences

    If this exposure and the following ones must be done without interruption, you will need to create a Non-Interruptible Sequence container.

  15. Complete the rest of the exposures in the visit

  16. See how the exposures fit in orbits

  17. See how the visit schedules

  18. Review your completed visit specification

  19. Perform Bright Object Checking

    If there are exposures in one of the photon-counting UV detectors (ACS/SBC, COS/FUV, COS/NUV, STIS/FUV-MAMA, or STIS/NUV-MAMA), you will need to perform bright object checking on both the primary science target and all objects in the detector macroaperture.

  20. Graphically preview your visit against an image (optional)

  21. Make the rest of the visits (and process and review them)

  22. Make target confirmation charts (Fixed targets only)

    If you have fixed targets, generate target confirmation charts to confirm the coordinates of your objects; note that the charts can also be used to verify proper motion values (if supplied).

  23. Submit

  24. Give us feedback

    This roadmap was created in response to feedback from our users. If you found it helpful, or have suggestions for making it better, please let us know. You can also provide feedback on other aspects of APT or its documentation. You can send your comments to your PC or to help@stsci.edu.


Last modified: June 20, 2017.