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Semester 2001B Overview and Call for Proposals

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Semester 2001B Overview and Call for Proposals

Proposals are invited for observations in semester 2001B (1 Aug 2001 - 31 Jan 2002) with Gemini North and Gemini South. Here we give an overview of the capabilities offered and other proposal guidelines and restrictions.

Proposal Deadlines and Process

Applications should be submitted via your national Gemini proposal process. The submission deadline varies slightly from country to country, in the range 29 March - 20 April 2001. Specific details for each partner country can be found by following the links to National Gemini Office pages in the Phase I overview.

The assessment and ranking of proposals within each partner country will be via National Time Allocation Committees (NTACs) supported by the National Gemini Offices. Assembly of the 2001B classical schedule and queue, definition of scientific ranking bands and resolution of conflicts by the ITAC will follow the procedures described in the Phase I overview and the proposal process schedule. All data will be subject to the normal Gemini proprietary data period of 18 months.

If submitting a program that uses both telescopes, the capabilities and time requested on each telescope must be stated clearly in the proposal. This is required because the National Gemini Offices will transmit separate XML files for Gemini North and Gemini South to Gemini Observatory for scheduling.

Gemini North: Instrument Availability

caution Note that all capabilities in semester 2001B are being made available on a shared-risks basis (see the definition of shared risks).

Instruments available in this semester are listed below. Note that there are restrictions on the time available with certain instruments. An instrument calendar showing the nominal instrument schedule, effective RA ranges and planned engineering/commissioning time is available. This will be updated to show the classically-scheduled observing runs after approval of the final schedule by the ITAC and Director. 

  • Facility instruments:
    • NIRI - near-IR imager. NIRI is offered in queue and classical observing modes. In classical mode, the available time is limited to a total of not more than 14 nights. (This time may be added to the queue mode if there is insufficient demand).
    • GMOS - optical imager and multi-object spectrograph. GMOS is offered in queue mode only and is available after 1 November 2001 (see the instrument calendar or instrument pages for additional restrictions).
    • The total (NIRI + GMOS) time available to the community in queue mode is 580 hours.
  • Visiting instruments:
    • Hokupa'a - natural guide star AO system with QUIRC near-IR camera (both loaned by University of Hawaii). The  Hokupa'a time available to the community is limited nominally to 30 nights. Scheduling is subject to lunar phase limitations as QUIRC is often used on the UH2.2m telescope during bright time.
    • Depending on demand and the availability of the University of Hawaii support personnel, the balance of classically-scheduled time between Hokupa'a/QUIRC and NIRI may be adjusted at the ITAC.

See the relevant science instruments web pages for more detailed capabilities. Integration time calculators for NIRI and GMOS and guidelines when deciding between NIRI and Hokupa'a + QUIRC for near-IR imaging and between NIRI and NIRSPEC for near-IR spectroscopy are available.

Gemini North: Operational Modes

For semester 2001B, NIRI is offered in both classical and (predominantly) queue modes. GMOS is offered in queue mode only. As a visiting instrument, Hokupa'a/QUIRC will be available in classical mode only. (Some partner may offer access to Hokupa'a/QUIRC via their own mini-service schemes; following the links to National Gemini Office pages in the Phase I overview for more details, if available). Note that there is a minimum time (the sum of integration plus overheads) that can be requested for either mode (see the descriptions of the modes for details).

Observations of non-sidereal objects will be permitted for NIRI and Hokaupa'a/QUIRC but not for GMOS.

Time-specific (including periodic monitoring) programs will be accepted on a best-efforts basis. Note that the instrument scheduling imposes additional restrictions on this class of programs.

All observations require the use of one wavefront sensor (WFS) star for fast guiding, primary mirror active optics control and/or as an adaptive optics wavefront reference source. The specific requirements for each instrument are given in the relevant science instrument web pages ("performance and use" section). As the technical feasibility of proposals relies in part on the availability of WFS stars, all proposals must include suitable WFS stars. Proposals concerned with non-sidereal objects should indicate the likely availability of WFS stars in the technical justification but are not required to supply specific stars.

For 2001B there is an minimum elevation limit for the telescope of 30 deg.

The following modes will not be offered in Semester 2001B on Gemini North: "quick response" observations, remote observing and eavesdropping. No instrument or observing mode changes during the night will be available. No other visitor instruments will be permitted.

Gemini North: Time Availability and Distribution

In semester 2001B, about 60% of the time will be made available for science use. This fraction includes payback to University of Hawaii for the loan and support of Hokupa'a/QUIRC (estimated at 8 nights for 2001B). The remainder is intended for ongoing  telescope and instrument commissioning. The time available to the partner countries also depends on the allocation to Gemini staff (see an overview of the staff process); a fraction of 10% was assumed for this table. Estimates of the time for each partner are listed below:

Partner Estimated Nights
(or Hours) Available
US 38 nights (381 hours)
host (Univ. of Hawaii) 10 nights (102 hours)
UK 20 nights (202 hours)
Canada 12 nights (120 hours)
Australia 4 nights (40 hours)
Argentina 2 nights (20 hours)
Brazil 2 nights (20 hours)

Weather and other losses and visiting instrument payback are excluded from this table. The number of nights is obtained from int(hours/10). Note that as the host country for Gemini South, there is no time allocation for Chile on Gemini North.

Gemini South: Instrument Availability

caution Note that all capabilities in semester 2001B are being made available on a shared-risks basis (see the definition of shared risks).

Instruments available in this semester are listed below. Note that there are restrictions on the time available with certain instruments. An instrument calendar showing the nominal instrument schedule, effective RA ranges and planned engineering/commissioning time is available. This will be updated to show the classically-scheduled observing runs after approval of the final schedule by the ITAC and Director. 

  • Facility instruments:
    • There are no conventional facility instruments available, however the Acquisition Camera is offered for broadband (BVRI) optical imaging. It's capabilities are limited compared with the facility imager (GMOS). Some preference will be given to Quick-Response programs to help develop that operational mode. AcqCam is offered in queue-observing mode only and is available to the community for a total of 140 hours.
  • Visiting instruments:
    • Flamingos I - near-IR imager and multi-object spectrograph (loaned by University of Florida). Flamingos I is shared with NOAO and is unavailable after end October.
    • OSCIR - 10 and 20um imaging and 10um spectroscopy (loaned by University of Florida).
    • The total Flamingos I and OSCIR time available to the community is 30 nights. If the demand for each instrument (including payback for instrument loan and support, estimated at 5 and 6 nights respectively) is less than 16 nights then that instrument will not be scheduled.

See the science instruments web pages for more detailed capabilities. An integration time calculator for AcqCam is available. OSCIR is being used in advance of the arrival of T-ReCS in 2001 to streamline the integration and commissioning of this facility instrument on Cerro Pachon during 2001B. We expect to offer T-ReCS for use in 2002A.

Gemini South: Operational Modes

For semester 2001B, AcqCam is offered in queue mode only. Visiting instruments (Flamingos I and OSCIR) will be available in QuickStart service mode only. Note that there is a minimum time (the sum of integration plus overheads) that can be requested for either mode (see the descriptions of the modes for details).

"Quick Response" programs are encouraged for use with the Acquisition Camera. For 2001B such programs must be submitted through the normal proposal process even if the specific target(s) are not known at the time of writing (see further details of the process and activation mechanism).

Time-specific (including periodic monitoring) programs will be accepted on a best-efforts basis. Note that the instrument scheduling imposes additional restrictions on this class of programs.

Observations of non-sidereal objects will be permitted.

All observations require the use of one wavefront sensor (WFS) star for fast guiding, primary mirror active optics control and/or as an adaptive optics wavefront reference source. The specific requirements for each instrument are given in the relevant science instrument web pages ("performance and use" section). As the technical feasibility of proposals relies in part on the availability of WFS stars, they must include suitable WFS stars. Proposals concerned with non-sidereal objects should indicate the likely availability of WFS stars in the technical justification. WFS stars are not required for quick-response proposals (but will be required to execute the observations).

For 2001B there is an minimum elevation limit for the telescope of 30deg.

The following modes will not be offered in Semester 2001B: remote observing and eavesdropping. No instrument or observing mode changes during the night will be available. No other visitor instruments will be permitted.

Gemini South: Time Availability and Distribution

In semester 2001B, about 30% of the time will be made available for science use. This fraction includes payback to University of Florida for the loan and support of OSCIR and Flamingos I (estimated at 6 and 5 nights, respectively, for 2001B). The remainder is intended for ongoing  telescope and instrument commissioning. The time available to the partner countries also depends on the allocation to Gemini staff (see an overview of the staff process); a fraction of 10% was assumed for this table. Estimates of the time for each partner are listed below:

Partner Estimated Nights
(or Hours) Available
US 16 nights (164 hours)
host (Chile) 4 nights (44 hours)
UK 9 nights (87 hours)
Canada 5 nights (52 hours)
Australia 2 nights (17 hours)
Argentina 1 night (9 hours)
Brazil 1 night (9 hours)

Weather and other losses and visiting instrument payback are excluded from this table. The number of nights is obtained from int(hours/10).

Questions and Answers

All questions concerning proposals, or any other subject, should be made using the Gemini HelpDesk. This web-based system will send the request to your National Gemini Office staff in the first instance who will then escalate it to Gemini staff if necessary.


Last update January 26, 2001; Phil Puxley


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