On Oct.15, 2017, the Panel Review on Telescope Access Program (TAP) was held at National Astronomical Observatories of CAS (NAOC). Nine members from NAOC, Beijing University, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO), Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) and other related universities joined the meeting. There are about 52 applications received this year from 18 domestic research institutions, the largest ever, among which 34 foreign institutions involved in the joint proposals. 

The TAP 2018A observing time will only be awarded to applications for Hale/P200, CFHT, and SCO. The review results will be posted on the TAP website at http://info.bao.ac.cn/tap.

TAP was initiated by NAOC in 2011. It is a program to give astronomers based in China direct access to competitive instrumentation on intermediate- and large-aperture optical/infrared telescopes. Through cash investment, it enables Chinese astronomers to select research topics by themselves. Two rounds of call for proposal are made annually in March and September respectively. The panel review is organized by NAOC.

Up to now, there 220 observing proposals have been funded, and about 50 publications in international journals, covering areas including star structure, supernovae, and red-shift stars. TAP encourages the joint use of both international and domestic facilities in a multiple wavebands and also taking the best use of CAS-South American Astronomical Center in the South Hemisphere in an effort to obtain prominent research results.

The Panel Review