The 100-m radio telescope of the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie and the data reduction facilities are available to all qualified scientists. The present policy allows the allocation of up to 40% of available observing time to external astronomers. The directors of the institute make observing time available to applicants based on the recommendations of the Program Committee for Effelsberg (PKE), which judges the scientific merit (and technical feasibility) of the observing proposals.
Information about the Program Committee, the allocation of observing time etc. can be seen at the Effelsberg Program Committee web page.
There are three deadlines a year, normally around February 05, June 05, October 05.
The Effelsberg telescope is one of the World's largest fully steerable instruments. This extreme-precision antenna is used exclusively for research in radio astronomy, both as a stand-alone instrument as well as for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) experiments.
With the advent of the new subreflector, observations from the secondary focus (especially at frequencies > 10 GHz) gain from a much higher sensitivity and flatter gain-elevation curves.
The new hexapod driving system leads to a faster and more precise focusing of all receiving systems in the primary and secondary focus.
Access to the telescope is open to all qualified astronomers. Use of the instrument by scientists from outside the MPIfR is strongly encouraged. The institute can provide support and advice on project preparation, observation, and data analysis.
EC Transnational Access Program
Astronomers who are based in the EU and the Associated States but are not affiliated to a German astronomical institute, may also receive additional support from the Transnational Access (TNA) Program of 'RadioNet'. This will, in general, entail payment of travel and accomodation expenses for one of the proposal team members to visit the Effelsberg telescope for the observations.
The Transnational Access programme is one of the activities of "RadioNet", an Integrated Infrastructure Initiative (I3) funded under EC FP7, that has pulled together all of Europe's leading astronomy facilities to produce a focused, coherent and integrated project that will significantly enhance the quality and quantity of science performed by European astronomers. For details see http://www.radionet-eu.org .
Upon completion of their observations, TNA supported scientists are required to submit their feedback through the TNA web pages.
Observing modes
Possible observing modes include spectral line, continuum, pulsar, and VLBI. Available backends are various FFT spectrometers (with up to 65536 channels), a digital continuum backend, several pulsar systems (coherent and incoherent dedispersion), and two VLBI terminals (dBBC and RDBE type). For information look here or contact a local astronomer.
Receiving systems cover the frequency range from 0.3 to 96 GHz. The actual availability of the receivers depends on technical circumstances and proposal pressure. A description of the receivers, information about calibration parameters, system temperature, sensitivity, etc. can be found here.
How to submit
Applicants should use the NorthStar proposal tool for preparation and submission of their observing requests. North Star is reachable at https://northstar.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de . No other proposal submission will be accepted.
VLBI
For VLBI proposals special rules apply:
For proposals which request Effelsberg as part of the European VLBI Network (EVN) see: http://www.evlbi.org/access/access.html
Information on proposals for the Global mm-VLBI network can be found on
http://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/div/vlbi/globalmm/index.html.
Other proposals which ask for Effelsberg plus (an)other antenna(s) should be submitted twice, one to the MPIfR and a second to the institute(s) operating the other telescope(s) (eg. to NRAO for the VLBA).
For more information about observations together with NRAO facilities (e.g., HSA observations) see https://science.nrao.edu/enews/5.1/index.shtml#3.
Publications based on Effelsberg Observations should be acknowledged:
*Based on observations with the 100-m telescope of the MPIfR (Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie) at Effelsberg.
