Semester 2007A Call For Proposals

Gemini Observatory invites its community to propose scientific investigations for the 2007A semester, 1 February - 31 July 2007.

Applications should be submitted via your national Gemini proposal process. The submission deadlines vary by partner and are shown in the table below. Please consult your National Gemini Office pages for submission details specific to each partner. Joint proposals must adhere to the deadline (and other requirements) applicable to the institution to which the Principal Investigator is affiliated.

Partner	Proposal Deadline (times are local, or as indicated)
Argentina	Friday, 29 September, 24:00
Australia	Saturday, 30 September, 24:00
Brazil	Saturday, 30 September
Canada	Saturday, 30 September, 16:00 PDT
Chile	Monday, 2 October, 12:00
Gemini Staff	Monday, 2 October, 24:00 HST
Univ. of Hawaii	Monday, 2 October, 10:00 HST
United Kingdom	Saturday, 30 September, 15:00
United States	Monday, 2 October, 23:59 MST

This page has changed significantly from previous semesters. The bulk of the information that may already be familiar to many of our users has been moved to supporting pages; we encourage you to follow the links for more detailed information. If hardcopy is preferred, all of the relevant information (excluding instrument pages and PIT help) is available in a single 15 page printable pdf document.

Highlights for 2007A

General

There is a new Phase I Tool (PIT) for 2007A. [more information and download]

Relevant dates for 2007A can be found in the 2007A Phase I/Phase II schedule.

Target of Opportunity (ToO) programs must be identified as such in the PIT. ToO is defined as any program with targets that can not be specified in advance. ToO programs fall in two categories, selectable in the PIT: Rapid response (immediate or less than 24 hours) and Standard response (not time-critical and greater than 24 hours) triggers. [more information]

Poor weather proposals are again invited on both Gemini North and Gemini South. To qualify as poor weather, observing condition constraints must be Cloud Cover = 70% or worse with Image Quality = "Any" or Cloud Cover = 90% or "Any". [more information]

Gemini North

Expect 90% of the semester to be available for science, or 163 nights distributed across the partnership. A list of offered instruments and capabilities is given below.

Laser Guide System (LGS) is expected to be available for Altair observations (NIRI and NIFS) approximately 7-14 nights per month in queue mode. LGS programs must be ranked in bands 1 and 2 and have significant restrictions on target accessibility. [more information]

The visitor instrument TEXES will not be available in 2007A.

Gemini South

Expect 70% of the semester to be available for science, or 127 nights; 109 nights are distributed across the partnership with the remaining nights reserved for system verification (NICI and Flamingos-2) and NICI campaign science. A list of offered instruments and capabilities is given below.

Phoenix will be available through March 2007 only. This is expected to be the last semester that Phoenix will be offered on Gemini.

The Acquisition Camera is not being offered for science use in 2007A.

NICI and Flamingos-2 are not being offered for community use at this time. Separate calls for system verification for one or both instruments will be made at a later date.

Exchange

HIRES: Up to 7 nights of classical time is available with the HIRES optical spectrograph on Keck. The requested nights must fall in the following windows: two nights each between March 6-12, June 2-7 and July 20-26 and a single night between April 22-27. Requests must be full nights with a minimum of 1 night. Proposals should be submitted via the normal process. [more information]

Subaru: Up to 50 hours of service observing is again being offered on Subaru for Suprime-Cam (wide field optical imaging) and MOIRCS (near-infrared imaging and multi-object spectroscopy-- new in 2007A). A minimum request of 5 hours is recommended; larger programs are encouraged. Proposals should be submitted using the Phase I Tool. There is no restriction on available dates or conditions; service observations will be scheduled to meet demand as much as possible. [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 Phase I information (not specific to 2007A).

Gemini North: Facilities and Availability

All instruments are offered in queue and classical mode, except where noted.
Facility instruments:

NIRI - near-IR imager and low-resolution spectrograph: imaging and spectroscopy fed with the direct or AO-corrected beam.
NIFS - near-IR integral field unit spectrograph: IFU spectroscopy fed with the direct or AO-corrected beam.
Altair - facility AO system: for use with NIRI (except M band imaging and L & M band spectroscopy) and NIFS.

Natural Guide Star AO: Traditional adaptive optics guiding on a nearby star.
Laser Guide Star AO: The new sodium Laser Guide Star facility is available for use with Altair in queue mode only during blocks of 7-14 days each month. The specific blocks are not yet defined and may include dark, gray and bright time. The LGS facility is still in its science commissioning phase; details of its performance will continue to be updated as they are determined.

GMOS North - optical imager and spectrograph: imaging and long-slit, multi-object and integral field spectroscopy
Michelle - mid-IR spectrograph and imager: imaging and R=100-3000 and echelle spectroscopy at 10 and 20um. Imaging (but not spectro-) polarimetry is available.

Availability:

Although not all instruments will be available the entire semester, there are no special target restrictions on any Gemini North instruments in 2007A. See the target accessibility page for more information and a plot of accessible RA and Dec.
Observations with the Laser Guide Star facility are restricted to be above 49 degrees elevation only; again, see target accessibility for corresponding RA, Dec restrictions.

Gemini South: Facilities and Availability

All facility instruments are offered in queue and classical mode.
Facility instruments:

GMOS South - optical imager and spectrograph: imaging and long-slit, multi-object and integral field spectroscopy
T-ReCS - mid-IR imager and spectrograph: imaging and moderate resolution (R=100 and R=1000) spectroscopy
GNIRS - near-infrared spectrograph: long-slit, cross-dispersed and integral field spectroscopy with a range of resolutions.
bHROS - optical high-resolution spectrograph: single- and dual-fiber (object/sky) R=150,000 spectroscopy.

Visiting instruments:

Phoenix - high-resolution near-IR spectrograph (loaned by NOAO). Phoenix is offered for a limited period for classical observing only, with support from the US National Gemini Office (NGSC). For Phoenix, Gemini's normal 3-night minimum restriction for classical proposals does not apply; applications should be for whole nights.

Availability:

Not all instruments will be available the entire semester. In particular, NICI and Flamingos-2 commissioning is expected to impact both T-ReCS and GMOS-S/bHROS availability. However, given the uncertainty of new instrument commissioning schedules, there are no special target restrictions on T-ReCS, GMOS-S, bHROS or GNIRS for 2007A. See the target accessibility page for more information and a plot of accessible RA and Dec.
Phoenix observations are restricted as it will be removed to make way for MCAO engineering after March 2007; see the target accessibility information for corresponding RA, Dec restrictions.

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 Bernadette Rodgers.

Last update August 30, 2006; B. Rodgers