Access is provided directly to astronomers of the funding countries, and of all nationalities through international time allocation committees.

[1] While the NOT was designed as a passive telescope, with the mirror sufficiently thick to keep its shape even without an active feedback loop, its mirror was designed to be suspended on a pneumatic support system.

[2] The designers had planned that this and the flexibility of the mirror would allow for the implementation of a so-called active optics system, a feature that was then under development for ESO's New Technology Telescope.

Retractable folding mirrors allow to switch in short time from the main instrument to either of them.

[4] This new instrument is intended to be mounted permanently at the Cassegrain focus, providing imaging and spectroscopic capabilities both in the full optical and near-infrared range.