Preparing an ESO proposal

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive guide on how to prepare effective observing proposals for ESO telescopes, covering types, evaluation criteria, and best practices applicable to various instruments and observatories.

Contribution

It offers detailed, practical advice on writing successful ESO proposals, including evaluation processes and content recommendations, tailored for multiple instruments and observatories.

Findings

Clear guidelines on proposal types and evaluation criteria.

Practical tips to improve proposal quality and success rate.

Applicability to multiple instruments and observatories.

Abstract

Preparing observing proposals is a classical exercise in an observational astronomer's life. In this paper, we summarize the general requirements to write a good proposal for the ESO telescopes, and eventually obtain telescope time. We detail in particular the different proposal types, how they are evaluated by ESO, what they should contain and what to avoid. The advice given in the present paper are applicable to observing proposals for the AMBER and MIDI instruments of the VLTI, but also to other ESO instruments, and to some extent to other observatories.