Semester 2009B Call For Proposals
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Gemini Observatory invites its community to propose scientific investigations for the 2009B semester,
1 August 2009 - 31 January 2010. The Call is open to all partners.
The submission deadline is TUESDAY MARCH
31ST 2009 for all partners. Applications should be submitted via your national Gemini
proposal process. Submission times and other details vary by partner; please consult your National Gemini Office pages for more information. Joint
proposals must adhere to the deadline (and other requirements) applicable to the partner country of the
institution to which the Principal Investigator is affiliated.
The purpose of this page is to highlight the most relevant information for the 2009B call. Significant additional information is contained on supporting pages; users are encouraged to follow the links for more detailed information. If hardcopy is preferred, the primary pages are available as a single pdf document.
Highlights for 2009B
General |
Relevant milestones for 2009B can be found in the 2009B schedule. The deadline for Phase I submission is
March 31st 2009 (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 July 13th 2009. |
Starting in 2009B, the Phase II submission deadline for classical programs will be the same as for queue programs. That is, successful classical programs must submit their Phase II by July 13th 2009. |
Target accessibility limits will be imposed, so as not to bias the queue at the start or end of the semester. For unrestricted access, targets for Gemini North which do not use the Laser Guide Star system should be limited to 19 < RA < 11, and -30 < dec < +73, and for Gemini South targets should be limited to 19 < RA < 9, and -87 < dec < +22. Other regions are available, but only for short observations, or those with very relaxed observing constraints. The Laser Guide System has more restricted constraints. T-ReCS and NICI have further restrictions on availablity and Right Ascension in 2009B. |
New narrow-band imaging filters are available for GMOS: O III and S II for GMOS-N and He II for both GMOS-N and GMOS-S. NICI at Gemini South is available in 2009B. It is expected that a later call will be made for Science Verification proposals for GNIRS at Gemini North and Flamingos-2 at Gemini South. |
The instrument web pages have been revised with updated acquisition times in the Overheads sections. |
The Phase I Tool (PIT) is updated for 2009B; See the PIT page for downloads and important information. |
|
Gemini North |
It is expected that 85% of the semester will be available for science, or 156 nights. This includes 15 nights that will be used for GNIRS Science Verification and possibly other Observatory strategic programs. These nights are distributed across the
partnership according to partner shares and adjustments for partner imbalances. A list of instruments and capabilities is given below. |
The Laser Guide System (LGS) is available with NIRI and NIFS. LGS
observations must specify "Laser
guide star" in the Adaptive Optics resources section in the PIT, and must
request Cloud Cover = 50% and Image Quality = 70%. Faint tip tilt stars will also require darker skies:
17.5 < R < 18 needs SB=80%, 18 < R < 18.5 needs SB=50%.
Because of the limited availability
and the need for good weather, only LGS programs ranked in bands 1 and 2 will be recommended by the
ITAC. Up to 200 hours will be available in 2009B for LGS queue observations
(LGS mode is expected to be available 7-14 nights per month).
|
Gemini South |
It is expected that 80% of
the semester will be available for science, or 147 nights including 18 nights for the NICI Campaign
and 6 nights for Flamingos-2 Science Verification. These nights are distributed across the
partnership according to partner shares and adjustments for partner imbalances. A list of instruments and capabilities is given below. Due to the need to balance the queue, and the
traditionally high demand for GMOS-S dark time programs, bright time programs on Gemini South are
particularly encouraged. |
NICI, the AO-fed Near-Infrared Coronagraphic Imager, will be available to the community in 2009B for on-axis coronagraphic imaging excluding the L and M bands; additional modes are available on a shared-risk basis. NICI observations must request Cloud Cover = 50% and Image Quality = 70%, to achieve a stable AOWFS signal. Community observations of the NICI Campaign targets with NICI are not permitted. |
Exchange |
Up to 5 bright/gray
nights of classical time are available with the HIRES optical spectrograph
on Keck. The requested nights must be within the following windows
with a maximum of 2 nights in any one window: 28 August -11 September, 26 October - 8 November,
24 December - 6 January. Requests must be
full nights with a minimum of 1 night. Proposals should be submitted via the normal
process. All proposers for Keck time must also complete the Keck cover page. Email this page
to your NTAC chair. [more
information] |
4 to 6 classical
nights are available on Subaru with Suprime-Cam (wide field optical imager) and MOIRCS
(near-infrared imager and multi-object spectrograph). The requested nights must be within
the
following windows
with a maximum of 2 nights in any one window:
September 14 - 21 (dark); November 6 - 12 or 22 - 29 (grey); and
November 30 - December 5 or December 23 - January 4 (bright).
Requests must be full nights with a minimum of 1
night. Proposals should be submitted via the normal process. [more
information] |
Additional Information
Details of the capabilities available at each telescope are given below. Please see the page of supporting information for additional general information.
Gemini North: Facilities
|
Gemini South: Facilities
|
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.