Semester 2001A Overview and Call for Proposals

Here we give an overview of the capabilities offered for semester 2001A (1 Feb - 31 Jul 2001) with Gemini North and other proposal guidelines and restrictions.

Proposal Deadlines and Process

Applications should be submitted via your national Gemini proposal process. The submission deadline varies slightly from country to country, in the range 30 September - 20 October 2000. Specific details for each partner country can be found by following the links to National Gemini Office pages in the Phase I overview.

The assessment and ranking of proposals within each partner country will be via National Time Allocation Committees (NTACs) supported by the National Gemini Offices. Assembly of the 2001A classical schedule and queue, definition of scientific ranking bands and resolution of conflicts by the ITAC will follow the procedures described in the Phase I overview and the proposal process schedule. All data will be subject to the normal Gemini proprietary data period of 18 months.

Instrument Availability

Note that all capabilities in semester 2001A are being made available on a shared-risks basis (see the definition of shared risks).

Instruments available in this semester are listed below. Note that there are restrictions on the time available with certain instruments. An instrument calendar showing the nominal instrument schedule, effective RA ranges and planned engineering/commissioning time is available. This will be updated to show the classically-scheduled observing runs after approval of the final schedule by the ITAC and Director. 

• Facility instruments:
  • NIRI - near-IR imager. NIRI is offered in queue-observing mode only and is available after 1 March 2001 for 25% of the semester (half of the total time).
• Visiting instruments:
  • Hokupa'a - natural guide star AO system with QUIRC near-IR camera (both loaned by University of Hawaii). Hokupa'a and QUIRC are nominally available for three to four weeks. Scheduling is subject to lunar phase limitations as QUIRC is often used on the UH2.2m telescope during bright time.
  • OSCIR - 10 and 20um imaging and 10um spectroscopy (loaned by University of Florida). OSCIR is nominally available for three to four weeks.
  • Depending on demand and the availability of the University of Hawaii and University of Florida support teams, the balance between Hokupa'a/QUIRC and OSCIR may be adjusted at the ITAC.

Note that GMOS will not be offered until semester 2001B. CIRPASS has yet to undergo laboratory benchmark testing and is not offered this semester.

See the science instruments web pages for more detailed capabilities. An integration time calculator for NIRI and guidelines when deciding between NIRI and Hokupa'a + QUIRC for near-IR imaging are available.

Operational Modes

For semester 2001A, NIRI is offered in queue mode only. Visiting instruments (Hokupa'a/QUIRC and OSCIR) will be available in classical mode only. Note that there is a minimum time (the sum of integration plus overheads) that can be requested for either mode (see the descriptions of the modes for details).

Observations of non-sidereal objects will be permitted.

Time-specific (including periodic monitoring) programs will be accepted on a best-efforts basis. Note that the instrument scheduling imposes additional restrictions on this class of programs.

All observations require the use of one wavefront sensor (WFS) star for fast guiding, primary mirror active optics control and/or as an adaptive optics wavefront reference source. The specific requirements for each instrument are given in the relevant science instrument web pages ("performance and use" section). As the technical feasibility of proposals relies in part on the availability of WFS stars, all proposals must include suitable WFS stars. Proposals concerned with non-sidereal objects should indicate the likely availability of WFS stars in the technical justification.

For 2001A there is an minimum elevation limit for the telescope of 30deg.

The following modes will not be offered in Semester 2001A: "quick response" observations, remote observing and eavesdropping. No instrument or observing mode changes during the night will be available. No other visitor instruments will be permitted.

Time Availability and Distribution

In semester 2001A, 50% of the time will be made available for science use. The remainder is intended for ongoing  telescope and instrument (principally GMOS) commissioning. The time available to the partner countries also depends on the allocation to Gemini staff (see an overview of the staff process); a fraction of 10% was assumed for this table. The queue scheduled time (with NIRI) will be limited to 25% (i.e. one half of the available time) for this semester. Estimates of the time for each partner are listed below:

Weather and other losses are excluded from these estimates.

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.

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Last update August 29, 2000; Phil Puxley