03-September-2004: Q. Is only the science proposal due by 17 September, or are the budget and institution signature materials also due at this time. A. Only the science proposal should be submitted by 4:30 pm on 17 September. The submitted paper proposals should include the NASA cover page. The only signature needed is that of the PI. NO institutional signature or budget information should be submitted at this time. This is clearly stated in the FUSE GUEST INVESTIGATOR PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS - Cycle 6. However, the NASA proposal web site was designed to serve several offices at NASA HQ and many different types of proposals. We will ask for an institutional signature and a budget following proposal selection, and then only from successful proposers. 17-September-2003: Q.I am not able to add Co-Is to my proposal cover sheet using the required NASA SYS-EYFUS cover page system. Can you suggest any errors that I may be making in my process? A. We reported this to NASA SYS-EYFUS. Their response is [please make sure you are] "completing the two step process required - choose, and select - and [if not] it may be that other user errors are creeping in." 16-September-2003: Q.Is the NASA SYS-EYFUS site, used for submitting the required cover pages for FUSE proposals, compatible with all web browsers? A. You may encounter some difficulties when using the NASA SYS-EYFUS site with older web browsers. Specifically Netscape 4.75 was more cumbersome to use than Netscape 6.2. We have notified the SYS-EYFUS Help Desk of problems encountered by one user. They responded that "We have had no difficulties reported with use of older browsers, in fact we use Netscape 4.7 for testing all set-ups." They also request that FUSE support "refer users with questions to the NPRS SYS-EYFUS Help Desk, [so that SYS-EYFUS] will be better able to diagnose and track any issues." However, you may wish to use a more recent web browser, if possible, to ease your cover page submission. 15-September-2003: Q.What are some reasons why the electronic submission parser has rejected my proposal. A. If the electronic submission parser has rejected your proposal, check to make sure you have NOT submitted your proposal as an attachment. The electronic parser will not accept attachments. No carriage returns in your title NO colons in text fields PC mailers sometimes insert hard carriage returns. If all other checks failed, try submitting the proposal from a unix workstation. 15-September-2003: Q. Is there a FUSE HELP page for the FUSE proposal cover page? A. Yes. The FUSE proposal cover page help is located at the following URL http://fusegi.pha.jhu.edu/fuse/c5_cover_page_help.html . 15-September-2003: Q. What is the URL of the website for registering PIs and Co-Is in the SYS - EYFUS system? Is it necessary to register before sending the proposal? A.The url for the SYS-EYFUS system is http://proposals.hq.nasa.gov. Yes, you must register before submitting your proposal. You need to be registered to obtain a cover page and NASA Proposal Number. The last three digits of the NASA Proposal Number need to be entered into your proposal template file. Additional details on the cover page can be found at the following URL http://fusegi.pha.jhu.edu/fuse/c5_cover_page_help.html . Information on registering in the SYS-EYFUS system is detailed at http://fusegi.pha.jhu.edu/fuse/noi_help_c4.html. 09-October-2002: Q. I tried submitting my proposal electronically, but I receive an error message that I do not have a title. I do have a title and I have not placed a carriage return in the title. How do I fix this? A. If you are on a PC platform and you have a long title, it is possible that a carriage return is being inserted by your mail tool. Try resubmitting with a different mailer. If that is not possible, try shortening your title. 09-October-2002: Q. I just tried submitting a proposal cover page with myself as both P.I. and Co-I. The SYS-EYFUS systems complains that I am not in the system when I try to add myself as a Co-I, even though I have registered. What has happened to my registration? A. The SYS-EYFUS system does not permit an investigator to be both the P.I. and a Co-I on the **same** proposal. If you have registered, you should not have a problem being a P.I. on one proposal and a Co-I on a different proposal. 08-October-2002: Q. I've just submitted the latex file for my FUSE Cycle 4 proposal. This proposal includes an encapsulated ps figure. How do I include/attach the corresponding .eps file? A. Figures are not required in the electronic submission of the proposal. 07-October-2002: Q. When I try to submit my proposal, I receive an error message that my title entry is not valid. How do I correct this? A. This is symptomatic of a carriage return in the "\title" field. Please delete the carriage return and try resubmitting your proposal. You may also need to shorten your title to ensure that it fits on a single line. 07-October-2002: Q. How do I submit the proposal through the SYS-EYFUS system? Is it automathically submitted once it exists in the system, or do I have to click a button? A. There is no submit button. Every time you click "Continue", the data you entered is saved automatically in the SYS-EYFUS database. You can edit your proposal cover page as many times as you want until the due date. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the SYS-EYFUS Help Desk at 202-479-9376 from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm EST, Monday through Friday, or send email to proposals@hq.nasa.gov 30-September-2002: Q. I cannot get Latex to process my proposal file. What is wrong? A. You probably do not have the required "style" file (fuse4.sty) in the directory where your proposal file resides. Please copy the file "fuse4.sty" into the directory and try again. If you still have problems, ask your system administrator for help. If that does not work, then clearly document the problem and send e-mail to the FUSE Science Center explaining the situation. Also, attach the offending Latex file to your e-mail message. FUSE support personnel will attempt to fix the problem, but please remember that the response time may slow down close to the time of the proposal deadline. 30-September-2002: Q. Exactly what do I get when I send an e-mail to "fuseprop@pha.jhu.edu" with the word(s) "help" or "request templates" in the subject line? A. The following four (4) files are automatically sent to you: a README file giving a short description of the procedures that should be followed in submitting a FUSE proposal, the Phase 1 Proposal Instructions , which provide step-by-step guidance in filling out the Latex template file, the Latex Style File that is needed to format the template file, and the Latex Proposal Template itself. 30-September-2002: Q. Can FUSE observe the Earth's moon? A. The principal difficulties associated with FUSE lunar observations are: The strong lunar flux could potentially damage the FUSE detectors. As discussed in the FUSE Observer's Guide , FUSE cannot actively track an object moving faster than 0.2 arcsec/sec, which precludes active tracking of the moon. It may be possible to make FUSE observations of the moon by pointing at an inertially-fixed position and allowing the moon to drift across the aperture. However, such observations require special coordination by ground system personnel and will not be attempted until after it has been demonstrated that the lunar flux levels do not pose a threat to the FUSE detectors. Please consult our memo on FUSE lunar observations for a detailed discussion of the above issues. 9-May-2001: Q. My proposal keeps getting rejected with an error message saying that the title is missing, even though I'm sure the title is there. What is going on? A. You probably have a linebreak in the middle of the title, which confuses the parser. Simply edit the title line to ensure that the title appears only on a single line. Short titles are better than long titles! 2-May-2001: Q. Must we include a copy of the NASA Cover Page (the one generated after filling out information at the NASA website) as the front page of each of the 12 copies of the proposal we submit? A. Yes, it is very important that you put the NASA Cover Page at the front of each of the 12 printed copies of the proposal that you submit. One of the 12 copies should have the NASA Cover Page with your original signature. 28-March-2001: Q. My target is very faint. Where can I find information on the FUSE sensitivity limit? A. You should read section 2.5.1 of the FUSE Observer's Guide (FOG) for a detailed discussion of FUSE's sensitivity limit. The FUSE Exposure Time Calculator (ETC) can be used to assess the feasibility of your investigation. 27-March-2001: Q. Does the Cover Page generated by the web-based form (i.e., the one used to submit proposal summary information online) have to be included with the hardcopies of the proposal that we submit? A. Yes, you must include the Cover Page from the web form with the hardcopies of the proposal that you submit. Furthermore, the last 3 digits of the ID number assigned to your proposal at the time of cover page submission must be entered as a keyword value in the LaTeX template you must also submit. 27-March-2001: Q. Where can I find examples of FUSE airglow spectra? A. FUSE is in low-Earth orbit, so astronomical spectra taken with FUSE include various emissions that originate in the terrestrial atmosphere. The strongest of these ``airglow'' emissions is the H I Lyman-beta line at 1026 Angstroms, but many other airglow lines can be seen in FUSE spectra, including other members of the H I Lyman series, various O I multiplets, an N I multiplet near 1134 Angstroms, and two He I lines (537 and 584 Angstroms) that appear in second order (i.e., at 1074 and 1168 Angstroms). Fortunately, most of the airglow lines are generally weak enough that they will have no significant effect on the scientific objectives of most programs. Further information, including actual FUSE spectra that illustrate the airglow lines, can be found at our FUSE airglow site. You may also be interested in the recently published airglow paper by Feldman et al. that describes FUSE observations of the terrestrial airglow. 27-March-2001: Q. How do I include figures in my proposal? A. Here is the method described within the proposal template file itself:

% % PostScript figures may be included in the formatted output by using % the \plotone command. Insert the following into your LaTeX file: % \begin{figure}[h] % \plotone{foo.eps} % \caption{} % \end{figure} % where "foo.eps" is an Encapsulated PostScript file you have created. % The figure will be scaled to a width of 95% of the width of the text. % If you have a tall, narrow figure, you can scale it to a smaller % fraction of the text with with \epsscale{fraction}. For example: % \epsscale{0.5}\plotone{foo.eps} % scales the figure to half of the text width. Use \plottwo to plot % two figures side-by-side, as in % \plottwo{foo1.eps}{foo2.eps} % % Proposers who wish to incorporate graphics using other techniques % (e.g., with the commands provided with the Latex 2e graphics package, % with the PSFIG macros, etc.) are free to do so, but JHU cannot provide % any support or advice to those who choose these approaches. % % DO NOT submit the postscript figure with your LaTeX proposal file via % email! Only the LaTeX file is needed for parsing into a database. % % For more information on LaTeX, see the LaTeX manual by Leslie Lamport, % "LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, User's Guide and Reference Manual", % 1994, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. %

Here is a template for inserting a figure into the text using the \epsfbox command. The \epsfxsize command can be used to adjust the scaling of the figure.

\vskip 0.2in \noindent \parbox{3.5in}{\epsfxsize=4.0in \epsfbox{fig.eps}} \vskip 0.4in

The following template allows the figure caption to be placed to the right of the figure (to save space). Once again, you will have to experiment with the spacing depending on the size of your figure and caption.

\vskip 0.2in \noindent \parbox{3.5in}{\epsfxsize=4.0in \epsfbox{fig.eps}} % adjust the following vskip and hskip commands to put caption to right % of the figure \vskip -2.6in \hskip 3.6in \parbox{2.6in}{Fig. 1 -- put your caption here} \vskip 0.4in

Please remember that it is more important to spend time on the content of your proposal rather than the format and/or style. If you wish, you can simply make 12 hardcopies of your figures and include them with the printed proposals that you submit, rather than try to format the figures when you format the rest of the proposal. Again, remember: Please do not submit postscript files electronically. If you attempt to submit a postscript file to the fuseprop account, the mail will be rejected. Only your filled out Latex file should be submitted electronically to the fuseprop account. 27-March-2001: Q. Can I include color figures in my proposal? A. Yes, color figures may be used in the printed proposals, since the proposer provides all the copies. 27-March-2001: Q. Can I submit a proposal even if I did not submit a Notice of Intent to propose? A. Yes, the Notice of Intent (NOI) is a requested, but non-compulsory, part of the proposal process. 27-March-2001: Q. The postscript file created after I run Latex on my proposal does not appear to be formatted properly. How do I fix it? A. First check that the various comment lines in the file (anything that follows the "%" symbol) did not get wrapped onto a second line. When wrapping occurs, Latex no longer recognizes the wrapped characters as comments and attempts to format them, which generally will produce problems with the output postscript file. If you have verified that improper wrapping is not the problem, and you have also expended a reasonable effort to trouble-shoot the problem on your own (including verifying with your system administrator that you are using Latex correctly), then clearly document the problem and send e-mail to the FUSE Science Center explaining the situation. Also, attach the offending Latex file to your e-mail message. FUSE support personnel will attempt to fix the problem, but please remember that our response time may slow down close to the time of the proposal deadline if we are deluged with many such requests. 27-March-2001: Q. If the required exposure time on a target is less than 4000 sec, should I enter 4000 sec for the INTEGRATIONTIME for this target? A. No, as explained in the Proposal Instructions for the INTEGRATIONTIME keyword (section 3, item 12), the value entered "should correspond to the observing time needed to produce the quoted S/N ratio". However, (as explained in section 3, item 14 of the Proposal Instructions) any observations with INTEGRATIONTIME values less than 4000 secs in your target listing will be counted as 4000 sec in calculating the value for the TOTALOBSTIME keyword. For example, if you wanted to integrate for only 100 sec on one of your targets, you would enter \integrationtime{100} for that target. But in calculating the TOTALOBSTIME, we will treat the exposure time for that target as if it were 4000 sec. 27-March-2001: Q. Should proposers attempt to maximize the observing efficiency of their programs by picking objects with the longest duration target visibility windows (e.g., objects in the Continuous Viewing Zone, or CVZ)? A. In general, proposers should focus on the scientific objectives of their programs and estimate the total exposure time required to achieve those objectives, which is independent of the observing efficiency. The FUSE schedulers will attempt to observe the selected targets as efficiently as possible, with the duration of the target visibility window as one constraint to be considered. However, if your target requires observation in the CVZ (e.g., if continuous observing is needed for the required phase coverage), then you should use the CVZ special requirement for that target. 27-March-2001: Q. What is the FUSE dispersion and plate scale? A. The SiC channels have a dispersive plate scale of 1.03 Angstrom/mm and the LiF channels have a scale of 1.12 Angstroms/mm. The dispersion direction for FUSE is also called the X-direction and each X-pixel covers 0.006 mm. Thus, the dispersions are 0.0062 Angstroms/pixel and 0.0067 Angstroms/pixel for the SiC and LiF channels, respectively. Each X-pixel subtends 0.545 arcsec and each Y-pixel (i.e., the direction perpendicular to dispersion) subtends 0.909-1.46 arcsec, depending on which grating/detector combination is used. (Notice that the FUSE pixels are not square.) Putting all of the above together, we get SiC side: 0.0114 Angstroms/arcsec LiF side: 0.0123 Angstroms/arcsec These formulas can be used to determine the widths of each of the FUSE slits in Angstroms. However, note that the resolution actually achieved for the narrowest (1.25") slit will be somewhat degraded relative to what you calculate from the above relations due to optical aberrations in the spectrograph. 27-March-2001: Q. Where can I find the most up-to-date FUSE technical information, including data for making exposure time estimates? A. The FUSE Observer's Guide (FOG) is the definitive source for FUSE technical information and generally contains the most recent data on FUSE throughputs, bright object limits, etc. We do not expect to make any further changes in the FOG (except to correct typos and add clarifying discussion when appropriate) until after the proposal deadline, unless important technical information becomes available that significantly impacts proposal preparation and submission. If the latter occurs, then a general announcement will be made on the GI website homepage. GIs are strongly encouraged to do all exposure time calculations with the official FUSE Exposure Time Calculator (ETC) . The ETC uses on-orbit data that accurately reflects the current instrument performance. 27-March-2001: Q. How do I get a hardcopy of the FUSE Observer's Guide (FOG)? A. The FOG is an HTML document, but we have generated a postscript version using a web browser. (You can probably do the same thing using your web browser. Contact your system administrator if you don't already know how to do this.) You can download the FOG as either a Postscript or gzipped Postscript file.