Last updated 2025-10-24 Polaris beta version.
Adding a Targets
A fresh proposal will have no Targets added, and you will be presented with the following page:
Add a Single Target
To add a single Target click the Add One Target + button, which will bring up the New Target form.
In the screenshot you will see we have found the Crab Nebula using the SIMBAD search function. This fills in the corresponding positional and coordinate system data for the named target, and displays the target in the Aladin Lite Sky Atlas.
Notice that the backend uses Simbad to search for the named target, such that the name must exist in their databases to be successful; an appropriate error notification is displayed if the named target cannot be found. We have provided useful help, hints, and tips to aid in using the search facility. Notice that the name displayed after selecting a search item is the main-id found in the Simbad database. In the screenshot shown the main-id for the Crab Nebula is "M 1".
You may also double-click anywhere on the displayed Sky Atlas. This will centre the Atlas under the position you just double-clicked and fill out the form with a "random" target name and the corresponding coordinates for the RA and DEC fields. These will be displayed as sexagesimal with the equivalent degree value displayed under the field box.
You can also manually fill in the fields, the Sky Atlas will automatically change the view to those coordinates. Notice that in this beta version of Polaris, you can have any coordinate system you like, so long as it's J2000 with an ICRS reference system.
You can change the name of the target after you have looked it up and before you save it as a Target. Be aware that each target must have a unique name within a proposal. To save, click the Save button. This will return you to the Targets page of your proposal now displaying the Target you just saved, and any other targets you may have added. Clicking Cancel on the new target form will take you back to the targets list page without saving.
You may Delete this Target if you so wish, just remember that you need at least one target in order to build an Observation for your proposal. For information, you will not be able to delete Targets that currently belong to an Observation - the corresponding Observation must be deleted first.
Adding Several Targets via File Upload
Instead of adding Targets one at a time, we have provided a means to add several Targets at once via a file upload; click the Upload List of Targets button. Compatible files are VOTable xml (obtained from Simbad or another service), Astropy generated ecsv, or manually created txt. We recommend using either the VOTable xml or the Astropy generated ecsv but if you are a masochist read on.
The manually created txt file should have the following format:
#name,ra,dec,pmra,pmdec,plx,rv
alpha,12.987,34,42,69,,99
beta,56,78,11,13,33,112
gamma,90,-12,38,-34,-1,-86
where you are required to provide the columns 'name', 'ra', and 'dec' of the targets, the other columns may be omitted with the caveat that if you provide one proper-motion ('pm') column, you must provide the other. The names can only be ASCII characters and the other values are integer or decimal digits. All units are in degrees or degrees per second for rates. The order of the columns is not important (to the code at least, to your sanity maybe). Any optional data value i.e., 'pmra', 'pmdec', 'plx', 'rv' (radial velocity), that isn't available but for which you have a column should be left blank e.g., the target 'alpha' in the (made-up) list above has no parallax ('plx') data. Again we recommend using either one of the other two formats to add a list of targets.
Next Step
If you haven't already added a Technical Goal then please follow the guide here. If you have now added at least one Target and one Technical Goal to your proposal then please follow the link to Building an Observation.