Days ago, the call went out. The time committee of the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) opened up for early-2025 (that is, semester A) proposals. That means astronomy groups can now submit their applications for IRTF observing.
In case you aren’t aware, the IRTF is one of the few ground telescopes owned by NASA itself, not a university or university-surrogate. This is because, as an infrared-specific design, it can’t simply be left to “the market” to do this work. IRTF has infrared-specific mirrors, feeding IR-based instruments, in an IR-specific dome, on an IR-favorable mountaintop.
irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/instruments
All this is to NASA’s gain, as monitoring in the IR has been good for planning and updating space probe missions. More specifically, and more specific to this site, working in the IR is more relevant to asteroids and comets. These bodies display features in their IR spectra, but are relatively bland in visible light. In at least some senses, IRTF has been considered to be the top telescope for asteroid follow-up. Also note that, by working in longer wavelengths, IRTF can actually view a bit into dawn. This lets it study asteroids and comets as they approach the Sun, where conventional telescopes can’t follow them. Comets, for sure, are more active, with more chemicals released, as they get nearer and warmer. But even asteroids will appear in the Sunward direction as their orbits take them away from Earth. A minority of asteroids- but not zero- are always in the Sunward direction. The Atira category can still hit Earth, but from our dayside, making them hard to spot.
If you’ve got a line of investigation, or are pursuing one someday, have a look at
irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/callforproposals/index.php , and
irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/observing/applicationForms.php
I, for one, will wish you luck, and anticipate your data.