Acquisition Camera Phase I (Proposal) and Phase II (OT) Checklist

• Phase I (proposal) checklist
• Phase II (Observing Tool) checklist

Checklist for AcqCam Phase I proposals

• Instrument configuration:
• Are the requested filters specified in the proposal instrument resource list?
• Check if your requested observations do not conflict with the current instrument limitations.
• Telescope peripheral wavefront sensors:
• Have you specified one or more guide stars of adequate brightness for the peripheral wavefront sensor(s) ?
• Calibrations:
• Are the baseline calibrations sufficient? If not, what additional calibration data are required for your program?
• Is photometry better than 10% needed? If so, have appropriate photometric standard star observations been included?
• Has sufficient observing time been requested for additional calibrations?
• Remember that I-band blank-sky flats are provided as part of the baseline calibrations to remove fringing, but if you need accurate flat-fielding extra time should be included to obtain blank-sky flats in the remaining requested bands.
• Observing time:
• Did you confirm the exposure time and S/N using the AcqCam  Integration Time Calculator, adjusting the observing conditions as requested in the proposal?
• Are Gemini-specific overheads included in the time requested in your proposal? Remember that different observing modes with the AcqCam carry different overheads.
• Have overheads been included for additional calibrations?
• Recheck the baseline calibration list. Whatever is there should not be included in your observing time.
• Observing conditions requested (for queue-scheduled observations):
• Is the expected image quality (scaled to the airmass of your target) sufficient for your program? What is the minimum image quality necessary for the science?
• What level of cloud cover is acceptable? Is photometric weather required?
• Is dark time required?
• Note the product of the probabilities of each of the conditions listed above. You might wish to reconsider the minimum requirements of your program, especially if submitting a Quick Response/Target of Opportunity proposal.
• If submitting a Target-of-Opportunity proposal, are your trigger conditions well defined? Please check the Quick Response page to review the process guidelines.
• Recheck the observing time, overheads and observing conditions requested!

Checklist for AcqCam Phase II (OT) programs

Please consult the general Phase II checklist first to identify the most common problems.

• AcqCam Component:
• If windowing/binning are required, have the appropriate configuration been set?
• If this observation requires fast readout (i.e., no Sequence Iterator defined) have the appropriate filters and exposure time been defined? Has a note been added describing the duration and remaining details of the observation?
• Sequence Iterator:
• Have all filters to be used and the corresponding exposure times been defined?
• If dithering, has the offset pattern been correctly defined?
• Has the number of repeats been specified at the correct place?
• If this is a long sequence, is the number of steps less than 200?
• If not dithering, is there a bright star in the field that may heavily saturate the detector in the requested exposure time? If so, please consider moving the target within the science field of view so to move the bright object out of it.
• Are the overheads acceptable for the science objectives of your proposal? Note that binning/windowing will NOT substantially reduce the 7-9 sec overhead incurred when dithering or filter changes are required.
• Quick response proposals:
• Is this a one-time trigger or is to be considered a "standing order"? If the latter, do not forget to include the minimum/maximum length of the interruption, as well as how long is the observation to be left "standing". See the Quick Response page for details. 
• If follow-up visits are requested, has the desired interval and observation details been included as a Note?
• Had the phone number/e-mail of a contact available for rapid clarification of details been included?
• If this is not the first trigger requested for the program, please add rather than substitute observations! Otherwise, all previous information on your program will be lost when the new xml file is uploaded into the database.

Last update August 21, 2002; Cláudia Winge