ESA's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration, David Southwood, invites all to respond to the 7th "Announcement of Opportunity" by submitting proposals for observations to be performed with the International Gamma-ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) satellite.

The gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL is the second medium-sized mission of ESA's Horizon 2000 Science Programme. The satellite was launched on a Proton rocket on October 17, 2002, and offers astronomers an opportunity to perform high resolution spectroscopy in the energy range from 20 keV to 8 MeV (Spectrometer SPI) and high angular resolution imaging in the energy range from 15 keV to 10 MeV (Imager IBIS). Concurrent monitoring of high energy sources is performed by the co-aligned monitors in the 3 keV to 35 keV X-ray band (X-ray Monitor JEM-X) and in the optical wavelengths (V, 500 - 600 nm) by the Optical Monitoring Camera OMC.

Proposals are being solicited for observations to be carried out in the period from October 2009 to December 2010, offering about 29 Ms scientific observing time. Proposers from all over the world are welcome to participate. All proposals will be subject to an independent peer review by the INTEGRAL Time Allocation Committee (TAC). Potential proposers are expected to prepare and submit proposals in electronic form by the deadline given below using the INTEGRAL Proposal Generation Tool software. The documentation, proposal submission and support software for this Announcement are being made available via the Internet — click on the graphic below for further details.

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