The Astronomer's Proposal Tool (APT) is used to write, validate and submit proposals for the Hubble Space Telescope. (It will also be used eventually for James Webb Space Telescope proposals.) APT is an integrated toolset consisting of editors for filling out proposal information, an Orbit Planner for determining feasibility in Phase II, a Visit Planner for determining schedulability, diagnostic and reporting tools, a Bright Object Tool for performing bright object checks, and an integrated tool based on Aladin for viewing exposure specifications overlaid on FITS images and querying the HST Archive.

The APT installers and documentation are available on the right hand side of this page. "Training Materials" is a compact table of contents of all APT documents. The "Roadmaps" are step-by-step guides to the proposal process with links to both proposal and APT documentation.

Release Information

APT 21.1 was released on April 23, 2013

This release was for JWST development. HST users do not need to install this release.

APT 21.0.1 was released on February 15, 2013

This is a required upgrade. All users must take this release in order to communicate with the servers.

APT 21.0 was released on January 16, 2013

What's new for Cycle 21 Phase I?

APT 20.4.1 was released on November 8, 2012

This minor release adds support for ACS Post-FLASH.

APT 20.4 was released on October 9, 2012

This is a very minor release for HST. Most of the work was for JWST development.

APT 20.2.3 was released on August 15, 2012

This minor release includes updates for Spatial Scans.

APT 20.2.2 was released on July 18, 2012

This minor release includes the new COS lifetime aperture positions and updates for pure parallel observations.

APT 20.2.1 was released on June 26, 2012

This minor release is intended to fix a problem with WFC3 Spatial Scans as well as two problems on Linux machines (submitting and running the Orbit and Visit Planners). Please take this release if you are using Spatial Scans or run on Linux.

APT 20.2 was released on June 6, 2012

What's new for Cycle 20 Phase II?

APT 20.1 was released on April 18, 2012

A major release, but mostly for JWST testing. One nice new HST feature - a more robust and flexible target importer.

APT 20.0.3 was released on March 19, 2012

A minor release for mostly operational purposes. (No need to redownload.)

APT 20.0.2 was released on February 2, 2012

A minor release to deal with a problem for ESA scientists at STScI and people using the exposure coverage exporter. (No need to redownload unless you are affected.)

APT 20.0.1 was released on January 18, 2012

A minor release to deal with a firewall connectivity issue. (No need to redownload if APT is already working for you.)

APT 20.0 was released on January 11, 2012

What's new for Cycle 20 Phase I?

Previous Release Information

APT 19.4 was released on October 26, 2011

Although this is a major release, there is no requirement to upgrade. There are several enhancements that people might find valuable if they are writing a new Phase II (such as labels for visits, and a utility for renumbering visits).

APT 19.2.1 was released on August 17th, 2011

A minor release. Most external users do not need to take this one. If you are working on a WFC3/IR Grism observation, please take this release.

APT 19.2 was released on June 2, 2011

What was new for Cycle 19 Phase II?

APT 19.0 was released on January 14, 2011

What was new for Cycle 19 Phase I?

APT 18.4 was released on October 27, 2010

Although this is a major release, most external users do not need to take this one. The most interesting enhancement is support for proper motion in Aladin and the Bright Object Tool. There is now an option to have the pointing be moved to an epoch of 6 months from now and not the epoch of the supplied coordinates.

APT 18.2.5 was released on September 30, 2010

Another minor release. Most external users do not need to take this one. But if you are doing Bright Object checking for COS please take this release.

APT 18.2.4 was released on September 9, 2010

Another minor release. Most external users do not need to take this one. But as with 18.2.3, if you are doing Bright Object checking using the GALEX data, please take this release.

APT 18.2.3 was released on August 12, 2010

A minor release. Most external users do not need to take this one. If you are doing Bright Object checking using the GALEX data, please take this release.

APT 18.2.2 was released on July 20, 2010

No users need to upgrade to this version. It corrects a problem with operational processing only.

APT 18.2.1 was released on July 12, 2010

A minor release. Most external users do not need to take this one. If you are interested in using the BOT to do persistence checking for WFC3/IR, please take this release.

APT 18.2 was released on June 4, 2010

What's new for Cycle 18 Phase II?

APT 18.0.4 was released on May 11, 2010

This release fixes an issue with processing pure parallel proposals.

APT 18.0.3 was released on March 24, 2010

This release fixes a problem with the Visit Planner that was introduced in 18.0.2. This problem made Phase II visits with tight orient constraints appear more schedulable than they are.

APT 18.0.2 was released on February 22, 2010

The only Phase I update is to include COS and WFC3 in the list of Instruments for Archival proposals.

APT 18.0.1 was released on January 13, 2010

The only change is a fix for Cycle 17 COS/G140L/1230 programs.

APT 18.0 was released on January 7, 2010

What's new for Cycle 18 Phase I?

APT 17.5 was released on November 2, 2009

This release consists mostly of infrastructure changes and a few look-and-feel changes. It is *not* necessary to take this release for submitting Multi Cycle Treasury proposals. This release also adds a beta Phase II mosaic tool. See the preview/training movie.

APT 17.4.3 was released on July 30, 2009

Release to support Multi Cycle Treasury programs. Also contains SMOV updates to positions of apertures.

APT 17.4.2 was released on June 19, 2009

Provides a workaround to a bug in the most recent Java upgrade on the Mac. Several other bug fixes.

APT 17.4.1 was released on April 16, 2009

Fixed a bug with orbit accounting.

APT 17.4 was released on April 9, 2009

Many little bug fixes.

APT 17.2.7 was released on February 2, 2009

The changes in this release may affect orbit packing for COS and ACS/WFC. You will be contacted by your PC if any rework is needed.

APT 17.2.6 was released on November 17, 2008

This release is to support the Supplemental Call for Proposal.

APT 17.2.5 was released on September 18, 2008

This switches the Target Selector to use the SIMBAD4 server. The old SIMBAD3 server will be turned off soon.

APT 17.2.4 was released on August 28, 2008

This has a fix for problems reprocessing some COS and STIS proposals in the Orbit Planner.

APT 17.2.3 was released on June 25, 2008

This has both chips displayed in Aladin when WFC3 UVIS1 or UVIS2 are the specified at the aperture.

APT 17.2.2 was released on June 17, 2008

This has the WFC3 UVIS-CENTER aperture.

APT 17.2.1 was released on June 12, 2008

This includes mostly bug fixes.

APT 17.2 was released on May 28, 2008

APT 17.0.2 was released on February 12, 2008

APT 17.0.1 was released on February 5, 2008

APT 17.0 was released on January 17, 2008