Report on NIRSPEC observing nights of 11-13 June 2001

Summary Report on the three nights of Gemini/ NIRSPEC 2001A time

The three Gemini/NIRSPEC observing nights on Keck II in Semester 2001A were June 11/12, 12/13, and 13/14. The first night had clear skies, but bad (for MK) seeing - 0.8 arcsec. On the second and third night high clouds covered the entire sky, attenuating signals by 2 magnitudes or more - often much more - and permitting only programs with bright targets to be observed in the 1-2.5um region. In addition to programs in the highest graded bracket a few others (with bright targets) in the next bracket were observed. At times the clouds were too opaque for any observations. It is likely that the desired s/n was not achieved for some programs observed through clouds. NIRSPEC and the telescope both functioned well during the run. A technical problem lost 2 hours on night 3, but the sky was thickly clouded over then. A thin layer of water ice on the dewar window absorbed most of the signal in the 3.0-3.25um range, somewhat affecting one program attempted on the first night.

Programs that were attempted are listed below, along with brief statements of the results. Within the next two weeks we will be making the data available to the PI's of the proposals via ftp.

118cap (12C/13C in M3 - Pilachowski): echelle spectra obtained through clouds on night 2; believed to be good quality.

121ghr (Calibration stars for M82 - Rieke): one pair of stars measured at two different airmasses.

127m_s (Mixing in cluster giants - Shetrone): two targets measured through clouds on night 2. Clouds too thick for fainter targets on night 3.

128j_m (O abundance - Melendez): target measured on night 1.

131a_r (host galaxy of high z SN - Riess): 6000 sec integration on night 1; no observations possible on nights 2-3 because of clouds.

132mea (Proplyd evolution - van den Ancker): Targets observed through clouds on night 3.

136x_f (high z quasar - Fan): 50 minute integration obtained on night 1.

140k_s (VR5-7 - Sellgren): H band spectrum measured through clouds on night 2; K band spectrum measured through clouds on night 3.

142d_j (GSS29 - Jaffe): H band spectrum measured on night 1; K band spectrum measured through clouds on night 2.

146bjh (proto-planetary nebulae - Hrivnak): two targets measured on night 1.

147m_b (PMS triple - Barsony): Spectra of all three objects measured through clouds on night 3.

Last update June 14, 2001; Tom Geballe