MAGIC observation proposals


MAGIC observation proposals (Cycle 20)


MAGIC OBSERVATIONS PROPOSED BY EXTERNAL SCIENTISTS

The MAGIC collaboration encourages external scientists to propose observations using the MAGIC telescopes, with observation time granted by the Time Allocation Committee (TAC) based on scientific merit. There is no predefined allocation of time between internal or external collaborators.

Observing Cycle

The observing cycle 20 spans 12 moon periods, from April 14, 2025 (MAGIC Period 276) to March 30, 2026 (MAGIC Period 287). The deadline to submit the MAGIC proposals is January 31, 2025 at 23:59 UT. Following submission, the TAC will evaluate proposals with this cycle's review conducted by a joint MAGIC+LST TAC, comprising members from both MAGIC and the LST (the Large-Sized Telescope) collaborations. External scientists may act as Principal Investigators (PI) or co-Investigators (coI) on MAGIC-only proposals. They can act as coI on LST-only and joint MAGIC-LST proposals, provided they agree to a Non-Disclosure Agreement with the LST collaboration, (see below “Guide for proposal submission”).
PIs will be informed of the evaluation outcome by mid-March 2025, following the TAC meeting and final approval from the MAGIC Collaboration Board and the LST Steering Committee.

Data Authorship

MAGIC data is proprietary to the MAGIC collaboration and require specific expertise and tools for analysis. Selected MAGIC members, either appointed by the collaboration or proposed by the external PI, will support external projects through proposal submission, data reduction and publication if time is granted. Authorship details will be defined before proposal submission, with the MAGIC collaboration listed on publications that report these data for the first time.
The transnational access to MAGIC by scientists not affiliated with Spanish institutes, can be supported by the ACME Transnational Access Program funded by the European Union. See information on the bottom of the page.

GUIDE FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION


General Information

Annually, MAGIC performs around 1000 hours of observations in dark time, with an additional 400 hours possible under moonlight conditions (though with reduced performance). For joint XMM-MAGIC proposals, the MAGIC TAC can award up to 42 hours (150 ks) of XMM observing time for Cycle 20 proposals.

Proposal Submission Preparation

The submission deadline is January 31, 2025 at 23:59 UT. External scientists must contact the MAGIC Physics coordinator, Julian Sitarek (jsitarek@uni.lodz.pl), before January 10, 2025 to verify if the proposed observations have been conducted or are planned as part of an existing project. To enhance feasibility, details of the proposed observations should be discussed with MAGIC scientists before submission. The Physics coordinator can be contacted to get information on the LST+MAGIC proposals.

Proposals should be submitted via the Multi-IACT Proposal Submission System (MPSS). The PI should include all the required information in electronic format (collaborators and their roles, targets, and details on observing conditions), along with the scientific justification and feasibility to be uploaded in PDF format using the LaTeX template available on the MPSS platform.

MAGIC Telescopes Performance

Regular observations: For complete performance specifications under dark conditions, see Aleksic et al 2016. For moonlight conditions, see Ahnen et al 2017. The main performance plots are reported in this page. Key details include:
  • Sensitivity for point-like sources (<0.1 deg): 0.8% the flux of the Crab nebula above 0.2 TeV in 50 hours of observation (using Sigma Li&Ma 1983, and 3 background regions), which is about 5% the flux of the Crab nebula in 1 hour. The numbers from the differential sensitivity plot can be retrieved from this page.
  • Sensitivity for extended sources (>0.1 deg): the sensitivity of MAGIC reduces with the source extension approximately as sqrt((0.1deg)^2 + (Source_Radius)^2), and the analysis becomes difficult (yet not impossible) for extensions larger than 0.6 degrees radius.
  • Analysis energy threshold: ~75 GeV x pow(cos(Zenith_Angle),-2.3) for a Crab-like spectrum. We note that, for strong and/or steep sources, it is possible to measure gamma rays below such threshold, as shown in Ahnen et al 2015a and Ahnen et al 2015b, where spectra starting at 40-50 GeV are reported.
  • Energy resolution: about 20% per incoming gamma ray.
  • Angular resolution: better than 0.1 deg per incoming gamma ray.

MAGIC PROPOSAL TOOLS


Source Visibility

The visibility of the source from the MAGIC site can be evaluated with this custom-made source visibility tool. Other publicly available visibility tools can be found at the TeV Catalog and Isaac Newton group of telescopes.

Source Detectability

A macro for evaluating source detectability is available in both ROOT and Python versions. Input parameters include source spectral shape and observing time. Usage details are provided in each file's header. When using this macro for scientific publications, please cite: Aleksic, J., et al., 2016, Astroparticle Physics, 72, 76.

Energy Threshold and Sky Brightness

The energy threshold depends primarily on the source zenith angle and on the level of sky brightness. A calculator is available online at this web page to help determine the best sky brightness limits for your proposal.

ACME Transnational Access Programme

Further information on this funding action dedicated to the observations with the MAGIC telescopes can be requested to Oscar Blanch Bigas (blanch@ifae.es)
The ACME project enables transnational access (TA) on the basis of scientific merit to a wide range of complementary astroparticle, high energy and astronomical Research Infrastructures to perform new science of multi-messenger astrophysics.



Transnational access to MAGIC is provided to selected user-groups of one or more researchers, with the majority of the users working in EU and/or Associated Countries AND NOT AFFILIATED WITH SPANISH INSTITUTES. The access includes the logistical, technological and scientific support and the specific training. Additionally financial support for travel and accommodation could be offered for selected user(s).

Only user groups that are allowed to disseminate the results they have generated under this program may benefit from the access. Publications based on TA programme should be acknowledged accordingly:

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. ACME project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 101131928