This page gives you GNIRS specific information for your proposal preparation (Phase I). For more information on the Phase I Tool (PIT) and the proposal submission process, please visit the Phase I page.

For questions about GNIRS, contact the support team. For questions about PIT or the proposal process in general, please file an helpdesk ticket.

Checklist for GNIRS Phase I proposals

In order to minimize the most common errors when creating a new program to observe with GNIRS, the PI is strongly encouraged to consider the following Phase I checklist before submitting the proposal.

• Target visibility:

          ☐ Is your science object visible during the dates of the semester taken into account the observing time requested and the limits on elevation of the telescope?

• Instrument configuration:

          ☐ Is the filter (for imaging), and the filter + slit + grating (LongSlit Spectroscopy) + prism (for XD spectroscopy) specified in the proposal instrument resource list?
          ☐ Is the grating you need available?
          ☐ Does your choice of slit and grating and prism (if requested) give appropriate spectral resolution and spectral coverage?

• Baseline calibrations:

          ☐ Are the baseline calibrations sufficient? If not, what additional calibration data are required for your program?
          ☐ (Imaging) If flux calibration is required then the requested conditions should include CC=50%.
          ☐ Has sufficient observing time been requested for additional non-baseline calibrations?

• Program time:

          ☐ Make sure that any exposure time is between 0.2 sec and 600 sec.
          ☐ Is the exposure time and S:N ratio confirmed using the GNIRS ITC? (this table can be used to check recommended acquisition times for several configurations of the instrument).
          ☐ If additional calibrations are requested, Have the corresponding overheads been included?
          ☐ Is time included for off-source sky measurements, if needed?
          ☐ Is the program time given by the ITC the same you have put in the PIT (Phase I Tool)? 

• Observing conditions requested:

          ☐ Is the expected image quality (scaled to the airmass of your target) sufficient for your program? What is the minimum image quality necessary for the science? 
          ☐ What level of cloud cover is acceptable? Is photometric weather required?

Note the product of the probabilities of each of the conditions listed above. This is related to the likelihood of your observations being executed, especially in the lower ranking bands. You might wish to reconsider some of your constraints if the product is very low.