Uncovering Our Galaxy’s Structure

Motivation Insert Catchy Proposal Title Here • An opening paragraph that sets up the problem and your solution. Grab your fellow classmates attention and tell them why this is an important open problem in astrophysics and how your observing program will either uniquely solve this problem or improve our understanding. Background • The current state of knowledge about your science goal. Set up the big picture here about what we already know, as well as what we don’t yet know or understand. Science Goal(s) • Explicitly state the science goal(s) of your observing proposal in the context of the motivation and background. Technical Justification An explanation of how your proposed observations will reveal what you want to learn Motivate your choice of both the telescope and the instrument you need. What wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum do you need to observe in? Imaging or spectroscopy? If you need to time monitor your object, explain and justify your observing strategy. Integrate the results of your supporting calculations relevant to your project into the technical justification to motivate the above choices (but list the full details in the appendix) Conclusions • A concluding paragraph to summarize the proposal’s key components References • References to the literature. If you use information from Wikipedia on your object, be sure to cite the original source (listed at the bottom of the page). Figures Images and figures to visualize your object and science topic. These are sometimes more effective if you mix them in with the text. Make sure you reference the Figures within the science justification, and include figure captions. Appendix • Full derivation of your supporting calculations, including the equation, units and math.