Semester 2012A Call For Proposals
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Gemini Observatory invites its community to propose scientific investigations for the 2012A semester,
1 February 2012 - 31 July 2012. The Call is open to all partners. The distribution of time across the partners is shown in
the time distribution Table.
The submission deadline is FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 30 2011.
Submission times and other details vary by partner; please consult your National Gemini Office for more information. Multi-partner joint
proposals should be submitted by the deadline of the partner country to which the Principal Investigator is affiliated.
The purpose of this page is to highlight the most relevant information for the Call. Significant additional information is contained on supporting pages; users should follow the links for more information. If hardcopy is preferred, the primary pages are available as a single pdf document.
Highlights for 2012A
General |
Relevant milestones for 2012A can be found in the 2012A schedule. The deadline for Phase I submission is
September 30 2011 (Poor weather and Director's Discretionary Time proposals are accepted at
any time via the Phase I Tool),
and for successful proposals the Phase II submission deadline is January 17 2012.
Both queue and classical Phase IIs must be submitted by this deadline. |
Target accessibility limits will be imposed, so as not to bias the queue at the start or end of the semester. The target accessibility limits for 2012A are, for Gemini North 4 < RA < 1 and -37 < dec < +90, and for Gemini South 5 < RA < 2 and -90 < dec < +28. There are additional constraints if a program requires unrestricted access (e.g. MOS observations requiring pre-imaging, long observations or observations with strict constraints), and also for LGS programs at Gemini North. For 2012A, access to NICI and T-ReCS at Gemini South have further restrictions. Targets for NICI are restricted to 7 < RA < 0, and targets for T-ReCS to 9 < RA < 2. |
The Phase I Tool (PIT) is updated for 2012A; see the PIT page for downloads and further information. |
Notice regarding future instrument availability: As new instrumentation comes online at Gemini South, it is likely that T-ReCS will no longer be offered, perhaps as early as 2012B. In 2012B or 2013A, NICI is expected to be replaced by GPI. On Gemini North, NIRI is aging and is expected not to be offered after 2012B, or possibly earlier if it fails. The Observatory is actively working with the new Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) that is replacing the Gemini Science Committee (GSC) to determine the optimum instrument suite that can be maintained at each telescope. A possible instrument line up that is under discussion is given in the Table at the end of Section 9, starting on page 9 of the October 2010 Observatory response to the GSC Report. Users are encouraged to send comments to their STAC representatives. |
Gemini North |
It is expected that 92% of the semester will be available for science. This amounts to 166 nights distributed across the partnership. A list of instruments and capabilities is given below.
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Installation of the Hamamatsu CCDs in GMOS-N has been delayed. As an interim solution Gemini has purchased deep depletion devices from e2v (e2vDD) which are expected to be installed in October to November 2011. These CCDs have improved sensitivity in the blue and the red compared to the original detectors, and extend the sensitivity to 0.98 µm (where the QE is 20%). The fringing with these detectors is also much improved. While we expect the e2vDD CCDs to be available for 2012A, investigators should use the existing EEV CCDs characteristics to define their investigation, and add a brief statement describing how the program will change if the e2vDD devices are used instead. |
Gemini South |
It is expected that 73% of the semester will be available for science. This amounts to 132 nights,
and includes the final 30 hours of NICI
campaign science, which are distributed across the
partners that participate in the campaign, and 13 nights of
FLAMINGOS-2 and GSAOI science verification. The final distribution of nights across the partnership is shown on the
time distribution page. A list of instruments and capabilities is given below. Given the available instrument suite, bright-time programs with relaxed observing condition constraints (e.g., SB Any, CC 70, IQ 85) are encouraged. |
A separate Call is expected to be made in January 2012 for science verification proposals for FLAMINGOS-2 and GSAOI. |
In Semester 2012A the commissioning of FLAMINGOS-2 and GSAOI will take highest priority. This will occur during February and March 2012; only GMOS-South will be available during this time, and the queue will be executed primarily during the two dark weeks of each month. Also, the scheduling of classical runs will be impacted. |
Keck and Subaru Exchange |
No Gemini-Keck exchange time is offered for semester 2012A.
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4 to 8 classical
nights are available on Subaru in semester 2012A. Due to the
cooling system incident the availability of Suprime-Cam and the Cassegrain instruments is limited. Availability is as follows:
Subaru is expected to have
extensive downtime in the 12A semester for Hyper Suprime Cam commissioning,
but the dates are yet to be determined.
Therefore proposers must be as flexible as possible with their scheduling requirements. Explicit windows are
not set for 2012A. Runs will be scheduled around the shutdown, such that the number of dark, gray and bright
nights is one-third of the total number of nights allocated. The minimum request is 1 night - partial nights cannot be supported.
Proposals should be submitted via the normal Gemini process.
[more
information] |
Additional Information
Details of the capabilities available at each Gemini telescope are given below. Please see the page of supporting information for additional general information.
Gemini North: Facilities
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Gemini South: Facilities
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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.
Comments and suggestions on the format
and content of this page and supporting pages are welcome, and should be sent
to Sandy Leggett.