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Deep Impact Call for Proposals

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Special Call for Proposals to Observe Comet Tempel 1 Deep Impact Event

Keck Observatory, Gemini Observatory and Subaru Telescope

This is an open call to the world astronomical communities to observe the Deep Impact event on Comet Tempel 1 in July 2005, using the most powerful telescopes and instruments currently available.

In support of the Deep Impact mission to intercept Comet Tempel 1, windows of Director's Discretionary time have been reserved on the Keck I & II, the Gemini North & South and the Subaru Telescopes. These windows (corresponding to times before, during and after the impact) are:

  • For Keck, I & II, the night of July 3rd
  • For Subaru, the night of July 3rd
  • For Gemini North, the nights of July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
  • For Gemini South, the nights of July 3rd, 4th and 5th
[The encounter time is currently scheduled for 06:10 4 July 2005 UT, which is 20:10 July 3rd in Hawaii. These times could move slightly later. This timing means that the comet will have set as seen from Chile, and the impact itself will not be observable there. ]

Keck has reserved only the night of impact itself for the high resolution spectrograph, HIRES on Keck I, and the near infra-red spectrograph, NIRSPEC on Keck II. All capabilities currently available on Gemini (except GNIRS and GMOS-South) and Subaru are offered. Selection of the instruments will be based on the proposal's scientific merit and coordination between the observatories.

The three observatories are inviting joint or individual proposals to all three facilities. Proposers should be aware that the observatory Directors will coordinate the efforts to provide the most complete coverage of the event and to exploit their respective observational strengths. Data from all observatories will be made public immediately after completion of quality assessment.

All proposals can be submitted directly to all (but at least one) of the observatory sites:

Deadlines for proposals are April 30th, 2005. The observatory directors will then meet to choose the programs. Selected PIs will then be contacted to prepare the appropriate phase II material.

Observatory, telescope and instrument information can be found at the three observatory web sites: 
Keck Observatory is at http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu 
Gemini Observatory is at http://www.gemini.edu 
Subaru Telescope is at http://www.SubaruTelescope.org



Last update March 19, 2005; Phil Puxley

Gemini Observatory Participants