The 'Band 3' page allows the Principal Investigator (PI) to specify how a queue program would be carried out if it were to be scheduled in ranking Band 3. It is important to understand that Band 3 overfills the queue once losses due to weather are taken into account. Consequently only some Band 3 programs will get data, and completion rates can vary a lot from semester to semester. Programs in this band often need to relax the default observing conditions and modify the observing strategy in order to improve the chances of being observed (see Advice for Band 3 programs on the external web pages). All proposals that wish to be considered for Band 3 must fill out this section.
The 'Band 3' page is divided into three areas. At the top is a check box for whether the proposal should be considered for inclusion in Band 3 and entry boxes for the minimum and requested Band 3 times . Below that is a set of radio buttons for specifying the observing conditions to be used if the program were to fall in Band 3. Finally, there is a section for Band 3 Consideration Text. Above the white text entry box are five icon buttons, from left to right, 'Open', 'Save', 'Cut', 'Copy' and 'Paste'. Click on the above links for information on using these buttons. These buttons refer explicitly to the Band 3 section, not the whole proposal.
The top check box is to specify whether the proposal should be considered for inclusion in Band 3 by the TACs. It is assumed that Principal Investigators will want their proposals considered for Band 3 in order to increase the probability of having the program executed, so this box is checked by default. If the nature of the project is such that it won't be useful to have it in Band 3 (time critical, ToO, LGS, etc.), then the box should be unchecked and the rest of the Band 3 page can be ignored. Poor weather proposals will have relaxed conditions by design and do not need to have the Band 3 tab filled in.
If a proposal should be considered for Band 3 then the minimum amount of time that is required for the program to be considered successfully observed needs to be given in the minimum required time entry box. Note that Gemini's goal is to complete (observe the entire allocated time) all programs in ranking Bands 1 and 2. In ranking Band 3 the minimum required time entered here will be used as the criterion of success but Gemini will make every effort to complete as many Band 3 programs as possible. A small minimum required time will make it more likely that the program will be attempted but the minimum time should be large enough to generate a truly useful dataset.
The Band 3 total requested time box gives the total time requested if the program ends up in Band 3. By default for new proposals the "Edit value" box is not checked and the time in this box matches the summed time from the Observations tab. If this value needs to be changed, click the "Edit value" check box and then enter the new number in the entry box. The change should be justified in the consideration text box. Unchecking the "Edit value" box will cause the value to revert to the value from the Observations tab. Proposals from semesters prior to 2008A that are read into the current PIT will have the "Edit value" box checked by default and either the box must be unchecked or a value entered before the proposal can be submitted.
Band 3 overfills the queue once losses due to weather are taken into account. Unless your program really, truly needs the very best observing conditions that Mauna Kea or Cerro Pachon have to offer, relaxing your image quality, cloud cover, sky background or water vapor requirements can greatly increase the chances of your program getting data. Use the radio buttons in the conditions section to specify the observing conditions that the programs gets placed in Band 3. To copy the default conditions constraints from the Observations page to the current one, click the "Set to Default Constraints" button to the right of the Water Vapor section.
The Band 3 Consideration Text should describe the changes to the original program that would take place if it were to be in Band 3. Specifically, the trade-offs between total exposure time and the number of targets should be discussed and the final signal to noise of the observations using the relaxed conditions (if any) should be given. If the observing conditions cannot be relaxed then this should be explained. Finally, the minimum required time should be justified.
To define the Band 3 Consideration Text you have two options:
Option 1 is to click in the large white Band 3 Consideration Text box and type in your justification text.
Option 2 is to include a previously prepared justification from an ASCII/text file. To include text from a file click on the 'Open' button. A window will appear entitled 'Open' and will list the contents of the current directory. Navigate through your directory structure using the 'Up' and 'Home' buttons or by double-clicking on the green folder icon next to the folder name. Once you have located the file containing the justification select it by clicking (once) on it and click the 'Open' button at the bottom right of the 'Open' window or double-click on the file icon next to the name. The text from that file will be included in the white text area of the justification. To manipulate the text in the abstract box, use the 'Cut', 'Copy' and 'Paste' buttons.
References to items included on the Band 3 page should be explicitly referenced in the text (e.g. Landolt, 1992, AJ, 104, 340).
Many researchers are used to writing their technical justification (and other sections of proposals) in a TeX/LaTeX form using embedded TeX/LaTeX commands. This is acceptable under one caveat namely that the TeX/LaTeX commands included should not reference ANY user-defined macros/definitions. Using user-defined commands will make processing of the TeX/LaTeX (as will take place in some partner countries) impossible and will result in an invalid proposal.
The length of the technical justification section is partner country dependent. Details of partner limits can be found in Gemini Observatory Partner Country Proposal Submission Information (on the external web site). If a limit is not given then Gemini recommends limiting the consideration text to 400 words (about 1 page).