Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

The VERITAS Collaborative Program: Available Time by RA Band

The actual amount of VERITAS observing time allocated via the VERITAS Collaborative Program will depend on the amount of proposal pressure and the deemed scientific merit of the proposals. VERITAS has allocated a maximum of 120 hours of total time, approximately 15% of the VERITAS observing season. The total allocated time of all successful proposals in any given mission cycle will not exceed this upper limit. The VERITAS observing seasons run from September to July. The observatory does not operate during July and August due to local weather conditions.

In order to spread the observations supported under this program evenly throughout the year, there are additional constraints on the observing time available within any one-hour wide RA band. The total requested observing time of all successful proposals in any individual RA band is not to exceed 25% of the historical VERITAS observing time (approximately 20 hours) within that RA band. The table below show the approximate number of available hours by RA band based on historical observing data.

Available Time by RA Band

RA BandAvailalble Time (hours)
0 - 2 8
2 - 4 16
4 - 6 24
6 - 8 22
8 - 10 17
10 - 12 28
12 - 14 23
14 - 16 13
16 - 18 11
18 - 20 14
20 - 22 14
22 - 24 11
TotalNot to exceed 120 hours

Note that these numbers are based on historical data. The final time avaialble might be effected by weather and/or other issues.