Semester 2018B Call for Proposals
Gemini Observatory invites its community to propose scientific investigations for the 2018B semester, 1 August 2018 - 31 January 2019.
The submission deadline varies with participant. Multi-participant joint proposals should be submitted by the deadline of the participant country to which the Principal Investigator is affiliated. Proposals for exchange time on Gemini from the Subaru community are required to be submitted by March 31, 2018 at 23:59 HST (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time). An overview of the Gemini proposal submission and time allocation process is given here.
The Call is open to all participants and host institutions : Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Chile, the University of Hawaii, and Korea (under its Limited-term Collaboration MoU). US time is open to all astronomers worldwide including those at non-US institutions, although in that case the proposal must explain why U.S. national facilities are needed. The distribution of time across the partners is available in the time distribution table.
Jump to:
- New and Notable in 2018B!
- Summary of 2018B Gemini Capabilities
- Large and Long Programs
- Important Dates for 2018B
- Phase I Submission Guidelines for 2018B
- Time Available in 2018B
- Limited-Term Collaborations
- Subaru Exchange Time in 2018B
- Priority Visitor Observing Mode
- Other Proposal Opportunities in 2018B
- Remote Eavesdropping
- Bring One, Get One: Student Travel Assistance Program
- Data Rights, Proprietary periods and Data Distribution
- Supporting information to the Call for Proposals
New and Notable in 2018B!
The following capabilities and announcements are notable for the 2018B semester. Please see the relevant instrument pages and subsections of the call for proposals for details. General:
Instruments:
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Summary of 2018B Gemini Capabilities
Gemini North
Targets are generally limited to 17 < RA hours < 13.5 and -37 < DEC degrees < +90. In some cases there are additional constraints as described below and in the target accessibility and instrument restrictions page. Gemini North annual planned preventive maintenance (telescope shutdown) is scheduled for 11 nights from Monday September 17 to Thursday September 27 2018. The new Laser Guide Star Facility (LGSF) will be available for science in 2018B, pending the successfully commissioning of the LGSF in late 2018A (see Altair section below for details). |
Facility instruments offered in 2018B, in queue or classical mode, are:
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Visitor instruments offered in 2018B (subject to demand) are:
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Gemini South
Targets are generally limited to 16 < RA hours < 12 and -90° < dec < +28°. In some cases there are additional constraints as described in the target accessibility and instrument restrictions page. Gemini South annual planned preventive maintenance (telescope shutdown) is scheduled for 11 nights from Monday August 20 to Thursday August 30 2018. |
Facility instruments offered in 2018B, in queue or classical mode, are:
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Visitor instruments offered in 2018B(subject to demand) are:
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Large and Long Programs
Large and long Programs (LLPs) are Principal Investigator-defined and -driven programs that are expected to require either significantly more time than a partner typically approves for a single program, or extends over two to six semesters, or both. The participating partners (US and Canada) will pool up to 20% of their time at each telescope available for LLPs over each of the next 6 semesters from the start of LLP execution in 2018B. Principal Investigators of LLPs must be based at an institution of one of the participating partner countries. Investigators submitting Proposals for LLPs, to begin execution in 2018B, must have already submitted a letter of intent prior to the February 2nd, 2018, deadline. Further information on LLPs and the LLP proposal process can be found on the Large And Long Program page. Information on previously accepted LLPs and their science programs is available here.
Important Dates for 2018B
The deadline for Phase I submission varies with participant. For successful proposals, both queue and classical, the Phase II submission deadline is 18 of July 2018. Check the 2018B schedule for key dates and events in the proposal process .
Phase I Submission Guidelines for 2018B
Proposals for time on Gemini, and for time on Subaru via the Gemini-Subaru time exchange program, must use the Gemini Phase I Tool (PIT). Latex and Word templates are available to create a pdf attachment which includes the science and technical cases. See the PIT page for installation information and the PIT help pages for assistance. Investigators proposing for facility instruments are requested to include the output from the integration time calculators in the proposal. Investigators proposing for POLISH-2 visitor instrument must use the generic Visitor instrument option in the PIT resource list.
Note that, following the Board resolution 2016.A.2, the time for baseline partner calibrations for the Gemini facility instruments and the named visitor instruments (DSSI, TEXES, Phoenix, 'Alopeke) are now automatically added to the total time requested for each target in the PIT. Investigators should continue to include the time associated to overheads (acquisition time, readout time, etc) in the total time estimated for each target in the PIT. See the Observing Section in the PIT help pages for details.
Time Available in 2018B
The time available for each participant and host institution in 2018B is shown on the time distribution page. At Gemini North, ~166 nights are expected to be available for science. At Gemini South, ~160 nights are expected to be available for science.
Limited-Term Collaborations
Proposals from Korea are accepted under Limited-Term Collaborations with Gemini Observatory. Proposals with PIs from limited-term collaborations are not eligible for joint proposals or Subaru Exchange time. Additionally, for PIs from limited-term collaborations, access to block-scheduled instruments is subject to scheduling constraints, and not guaranteed, irrespective of science rank. The block-scheduled instruments are GeMS/GSAOI, GRACES, DSSI, 'ALOPEKE, Phoenix, and POLISH-2.
Subaru Exchange Time
The exchange of time between the Gemini and Subaru communities will continue in 2018B. Gemini and Subaru expect to be able to exchange a minimum of 5 nights in semester 2018B. Note that additional nights may be allocated on Subaru in 2018B in benefit of the Gemini community. PIs from the Gemini community are strongly encourage to propose for observations on Subaru. Relevant information:
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Facility instruments offered in 2018B:
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Visitor instruments offered in 2018B (limited to one or two runs):
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Priority Visitor Observing Mode
In Priority Visitor Observing, a visiting observer comes to the Observatory for a block exceeding their program's time allocation, and elects when to carry out their program within that block. This may be when conditions are within their requirement, better than their requirement or even fail to meet their requirement. If time remains on the program after the observing time is complete, the program carries on in the regular queue with priority given by the TAC-assigned science ranking band. When not executing their own program the visiting observer will execute other Gemini queue observations. PV observing mode is offered as a possibility for band 1 queue programs in 2018B. Investigators wishing to have their program considered for PV observing should indicate their desire to participate in the Technical Design portion of their 2018B queue proposal.
Other Proposal Opportunities in 2018B
Other proposal opportunities are available at Gemini Observatory in 2018B. These include:
- The Fast Turnaround (FT) Program provides monthly opportunities to submit proposals, with successful programs scheduled for observation starting one month after each proposal deadline. Up to 10% of the time at Gemini North and Gemini South is available for the FT programs.
- Director's Discretionary Time is open to any astronomer worldwide and proposals can be submitted at any time.
- Poor Weather Proposals are solicited for programs that can use poor, but usable, conditions and are executed when nothing in the regular queue is observable. Proposals can be submitted via the normal TAC process (this call) or at any time.
- For Semester 2018B, the Gemini community is also eligible to propose HyperSuprimeCam (HSC) filler programs on Subaru. Filler programs are executed in poor observing conditions (typically seeing >1.5 arcseconds, and/or poor transparency). Execution is not guaranteed: observations are made only when there is no other program in the HSC queue. In recent semesters, typically of order 15% of HSC time has gone to filler programs. Applications may be submitted once per semester, the next deadline for filler proposals being April 5th 3:00 (UT). Proposals must be sent through the Subaru submission system (NOT Gemini), and are considered only by the Subaru TAC. Note that only a short text summary of the program is required, not a full detailed Science Justification.
Bring One, Get One: Travel Assistance Program
The Gemini Observatory, at the request of its Users' Committee, would like to strongly encourage the visit of students, and other early-career observers, to observing runs (attending Queue, Classical, or Priority Visiting Observing). In semester 2018B, the Gemini Observatory may subsidize with up to US$2000 the travel expenses of individual under- and graduate students, and other early career observers, visiting Gemini North or South, when accompanying a senior observer. The "Bring One, Get One" Student Observer Support Program" page has full details on this program. This program is subject to the availability of limited funds.
Remote Eavesdropping
Remote Eavesdropping will be available in 2018B for all queue programs. Investigators will be invited to sign up for eavesdropping via the PI email announcing they have been granted time.
Data Rights, Proprietary periods and Data Distribution
The data taken with the Gemini telescopes is the property of the Gemini Observatory. Principal investigators of Gemini regular programs (Queue/Classical/Poor Weather) have exclusive access to the data for their program for a period of 12 months. After the proprietary period the data are publicly available. See the page Data Rights and Proprietary Periods for more information.
All data, including raw and available processed data, obtained with the Gemini telescope are distributed exclusively through the Gemini Observatory Archive. More information about the data distribution is given here.
Supporting information to the Call for Proposals
Relevant general information related to the applications for time on Gemini Telescopes is presented in the supporting information page. Consult there for the following:
- Time Allocation Process (National and International Time Allocation Committees)
- Submitting for time on both telescopes
- Queue Rollover
- Electronic PIT Submission
- Joint Proposals
- Under-utilized Instruments
- Rapid Response or Target of Opportunity
- GMOS Mask definitions
- Poor Weather Programs
- Exchange Time
- Target information (guide stars, non-sidereal objects, time-specific observations)
- Duplicate Observations
Prospective users should also refer to the target and instrument accessibility page, and the instrument pages for detailed and up to date information on instrumentation.
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 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 Rodrigo Carrasco.