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2012A Instrument Availability and Target Accessibility

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This page provides best estimates, at the time of the Call for Proposals, of instrument availability and target (RA, dec) restrictions for 2012A.

Instrument Changes

As there are more instruments than the number of available ports on each telescope, instrument swaps will be required. Therefore not all instruments will be available for the entire semester. When possible instrument swaps will be scheduled to minimize impact on the queue and instrument swaps will be driven by demand. Hence the final schedule will not be made until after the semester programs are known. It may be the case that certain targets or entire programs will not be feasible once the final schedule is determined, at ITAC or thereafter. If an instrument is requested for less than 6% of the Bands 1+2 time, the Observatory reserves the right to limit the RA range available to programs, or to not schedule the instrument. During classical runs, no instrument changes on the Instrument Support Structure are permitted.



 

Gemini North Instrument Availability and Target Accessibility


All instruments are restricted for sky visibility as described in the Table and Figure below. Observations requiring the Laser Guide Star (LGS) system are further restricted by the limitation that the LGS must be used at or above 40 degrees elevation. How this translates into RA and dec restrictions is indicated in the Table. At Gemini North, Michelle, NIFS and NIRI will share the up-looking port. Michelle will most likely only be available for one or two short periods, depending on demand. It is expected that NIFS and NIRI will each be on for about half of the semester. Scheduling will be driven by demand, with a maximum of three instrument swaps.

 


Accessible Restricted** Inaccessible
Declination,
non-LGS
-30d to +73d -37d to -30d,
+73d to +90d
< -37d
Declination,
LGS
-22d to +65d -27d to -22d,
+65d to +68d
< -27d and > +68d
Right Ascension,
non-LGS
7h to 22h 4h to 7h,
22h to 1h
1h to 4h
Right Ascension,
LGS
8h to 21h 5h to 8h,
21h to 0h
0h to 5h

**Due to limited sky availability during the semester, GMOS MOS programs requiring pre-imaging should not have targets in this region, and other programs with targets in this region should not require a large amount of time, or have strict timing or observing constraints.

 

GN Target Accessibility

Figure 1: Schematic representation of target accessibility at Gemini North during semester 2012A. Green regions offer unrestricted access, red regions are inaccessible. Hatched areas indicate the more restricted LGS regions. The yellow region is possible, but restricted. See text, and values in the Table above.


 

Gemini South Instrument Availability and Target Accessibility


All instruments are restricted for sky visibility as described in the Table and Figure below. At Gemini South, T-ReCS and GSAOI will share the up-looking port. NICI and FLAMINGOS-2 will share a side port, during the semester. Due to FLAMINGOS-2 and GSAOI commissioning, T-ReCS will most likely be available from late April through July 2012, and NICI between mid-March and late June 2012. Targets for NICI should be limited to 7 < RA < 0, and targets for T-ReCS to 9 < RA < 2. Note that semester 2012A may be the last semester when T-ReCS is available at Gemini South.

 


Accessible Restricted** Inaccessible
Declination -87d to +22d -90d to -87d,
+22d to +28d
> +28d
Right Ascension 7h to 23h 5h to 7h,
23h to 2h
2h to 5h
NICI Right Ascension 9h to 22h 7h to 9h,
22h to 0h
0h to 7h
T-ReCS Right Ascension 11h to 0h 9h to 11h,
0h to 2h
2h to 9h

**Due to limited sky availability during the semester, GMOS MOS programs requiring pre-imaging should not have targets in this region, and other programs with targets in this region should not require a large amount of time, or have strict timing or observing constraints.

 

 

GS Target Accessibility

Figure 2: Schematic representation of target accessibility at Gemini South during semester 2012A. Green regions offer unrestricted access (for GMOS-S only in 2012A), red regions are inaccessible. The yellow region is possible, but restricted. See text, and values in the Table above.

 




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