GALEX Planning Wizard
The GALEX Planning Wizard will guide you through a step-by-step process for creating or editting a proposal 'save' file that can be uploaded to NASA's HEASARC Remote Proposal System (RPS) in response to Guest Investigator research opportunity announcements.
The GALEX Planning Wizard can also be used as efficient method for investigating the feasibility of multiple observations prior to developing a final proposal.
Step # 1, Cover Page
This step is used for initializing the GALEX Planning Wizard with an existing ARK save file. Positions associated with observations and science targets in the ARK save file can be editted in Step # 2, Observations and Science Targets.
Users without an ARK save file should skip to Step # 2 to enter observation and science target positions.
Users with ARK save files that contain links to products generated during previous iterations with the GALEX Planning Wizard will see links to those products appear in Step # 3 (ETC) and Step # 4 (Analyze Results). If the positions of any observations have been changed from outside the wizard, then the names of those observations should be changed in Step # 2 in order to force the wizard to regenerate products for those observations.
Step # 2, Observations and Science Targets
This step is used to enter new or edit existing observations and science target positions. An observation is defined to be the center of the GALEX field of view for an exposure. The GALEX field of view is circular with a radius of 36'.
If an ARK save file was provided in Step # 1, then the positions from the save file will be loaded into the table below. Other fields in the save file (such as constraints, aperture, etc...) will not be shown, but will be passed on to the output save file that is generated in Step # 5.
New observations can be added in two ways. One method is interactive, through the use of the 
buttons for adding new observations and the 
buttons for removing observations. Another method is to open the Coordinate Bulk Loader that appears in the table below to read positions from a list of comma separated values.
In many cases, the observation position and the position of the science target will be the same. If the science target is not at the field center and/or if there is more than one science target, then you will need to add each science target to the observation, specifying the name, position, and diameter of the science target. Otherwise, the science target will be assumed to be a point source at the field center. You may add up to 10 science targets per observation.
Step # 3, Exposure Time Calculator (ETC)
This step is used to simulate the GALEX instrument response for observations of different types of astronomical objects (stars, galaxies, and QSOs). There are two calculation methods that can be used with the ETC. The first method is to specify an exposure time and the ETC will return the predicted signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The second method is to specify an SNR and the ETC will return the exposure time needed to obtain it.
The user must specify the flux from the object being observed, either using a flux density or magnitude. The ETC does not use the input position to compute the flux of the object being observed. The input position is only used to compute an estimated background at the position of the object being observed.
The background at the position of the object being observed is estimated from the sum of the diffuse galactic emission in that region, as described in Schlegel et al. (1998), ApJ, 500, 525, and the zodiacal light emission, as described in table 17 in Leinert et al. (1998), A&AS, 127, 1. The zodiacal light emission will vary throughout the year, but for the purposes of the background estimation in the ETC the minimum value over a one year period is used. As a result, the background component reported by the ETC should be considered optimistic.
An ETC run is performed by entering a calculation method, flux, and position and then clicking on the Run ETC button. Options that can be used to more fully describe the object being observed are available from the 'Advanced' interface.
Each completed ETC request will appear in the table below. Click on the 'View ETC Results' link in the table to open the ETC results page in a new window. The results of the request will be saved with the ARK save file that is generated in Step # 5. If you are unhappy with the results, then click on the button to remove the results and they will not be saved. You may add up to 20 ETC results per ARK save file.
There are two additional pieces of information that can be saved with each ETC result. Free text comments can be entered in text boxes located under the column titled 'Comments for ARK Save File'. The observations for which the ETC result is meant to be representative can be selected in the popup dialog raised by clicking on 'Select Representative Observations'. The ETC is not intended to be run for every observation in a proposal. Instead, please make an attempt to perform runs that are representative of the general types of observations that you propose to make.
Step # 4, Analyze Results
This step is used to analyze the results of running a suite of tools that will be used to evaluate your proposal. The results are organized in the product table below so that the observations appear along the rows of the table and each tool is listed along a separate column. The results will be saved with the ARK save file that is generated in Step # 5.
Click on the Start button to begin requesting queued products. An activity icon will appear as a product is loaded and, once a request is complete, the product can be viewed by clicking on the 'View Product' link in the table.
Click on the Stop button to stop requesting queued products. Requests for all the products in the table might take a long time to complete and you are permitted to go to Previous steps in the planning process while your requests are being made. Observations and science targets can be editted at any time by going back to Step # 2, but any completed requests for those observations will be considered invalid, automatically erased by the wizard, and will have to be re-requested when returning to this step.
We strongly recommend that every Guest Investigator closely examine the results of the following tools and, if necessary, alter the contents of their proposal or provide an adequate justification:
- Target Observation and Archive Search Tool
- Brightness Checker
Step # 5, Save File
This step is used to generate an ARK save file that can be uploaded to NASA's HEASARC Remote Proposal System (RPS). We do not recommend that you manually edit the file in any way prior to uploading it to the ARK RPS system.
The ARK save file can be saved in two ways. One way is by opening the file in a new window. In the new window, go to the 'File' menu and select the 'Save File' option with 'Save as Type' set to 'Text'. Browser security restrictions meant to prohibit popups may prevent you from opening a new window. The second method for saving the file is to copy the text from the text box and paste the contents into a file.
