Call for Proposals on the Gemini, Keck, and Subaru Telescopes

The deadline for Gemini proposals in Semester 2012A has now passed. We will begin accepting proposals for Semester 2012B in early March 2012.

Poor weather and Director's Discretionary Time proposals are accepted at any time via the Phase I Tool. Such proposals are submitted directly to the Gemini Observatory for their consideration, and any time awarded is not charged to Australia's share of Gemini time.

This page contains a summary of the Gemini call for proposals, together with Australia-specific information and some hints on how to maximise your chances of getting data. It should be read in conjunction with the Gemini Observatory Call for Proposals web page, which gives more details on the operational modes available.

See the ATAC Policies and Procedures document for information about how Australian Gemini time is allocated.

What's new in 2012A?

Installation of the Hamamatsu CCDs in GMOS-N has been delayed due to ongoing difficulties working with these devices which are highly sensitive to electrostatic discharge. As an interim solution Gemini has purchased deep depletion devices from e2v (e2vDD) which are expected to be installed in Oct/Nov 2011. These CCDs have improved sensitivity in both the blue and the red compared to the original detectors, and extend the sensitivity to 0.98 microns (where the QE is 20%). The fringing with these detectors is also much improved. While we expect the e2vDD CCDs to be available for 2012A, investigators should use the existing EEV CCD characteristics to define their investigation, and add a brief statement describing how the program will change if the e2vDD devices are used instead.
Pending the success of ongoing commissioning activities it is anticipated there will be a call for System Verification programs for one or both of FLAMINGOS-2 and GSAOI as early as January 2012, leading to both instruments being offered for community use in Semester 2012B. Demand for both of these Gemini South instruments is likely to be extremely high so applicants are encouraged to consider submitting larger, more ambitious programs for GMOS-S, T-ReCS, or NICI in Semester 2012A rather than wait until a later semester. During February and March 2012, only GMOS-S is expected to be available for use, so programs which can use GMOS-S under a wide variety of observing conditions in this period are particularly welcome.
Semester 2012A is likely to be the last semester that T-ReCS will be offered on Gemini South, while NICI is expected to be replaced by GPI in either 2012B or 2013A. On Gemini North, NIRI is aging and is expected not to be offered after 2012B, or possibly earlier if it suffers a major failure.
Gemini has begun a significant software development effort to improve the usability of the Phase I Tool (PIT) from 2012B, and the Observing Tool (OT) from 2012A. Features under development for the 2012A OT (to be released in December 2011) include automatic GCAL configurations and automatic guide star selection. Successful applicants in Semester 2012A will be the first to benefit from these improvements.
The allowable Declination ranges accessible from each telescope have been revised. The Gemini telescopes can now observe targets up to +90 (for Gemini North) and -90 (for Gemini South), but note that this corresponds to almost 3 airmasses at Gemini North.

Other significant changes from Semester 2011B onwards include:

The proposal deadline has been brought forward by 7 hours, to 5pm AEST. This is intended to reduce stress both on the applicants and the Australian Gemini Office by enabling us to respond to last-minute queries or unexpected events (e.g. power outages) during normal business hours.
The CC=90%-ile cloud cover constraint corresponding to 3 mag of extinction has been replaced by a CC=80%-ile cloud cover constraint, for which only 1 mag of extinction should be assumed. Applicants should now request one of CC=50% (photometric); CC=70% (patchy cloud/thin currus, 0.3 mag extinction); CC=80% (cloudy, 1 mag of extinction); or CC="Any" (cloudy but usable, >3 mag of extinction). Programs requesting or able to use CC=Any may be assigned to the Poor Weather queue for which partners are not charged.
The amount of Band 3 time available to each partner to fill has been halved. The amount of Band 1 and Band 2 time remains unchanged. What was the remaining half of the Band 3 time, and typically filled by CC=90% programs with poor completion fractions, will now be used for executing programs in the Poor Weather queue, which are not charged to any partner. This change is expected to reduce unnecessary effort by PIs, National Gemini Office and Gemini Observatory staff in preparing and checking programs with a very low probability of execution.
All Target of Opportunity (ToO) programs with both a Rapid (RToO with <24 hr turnaround) and a Standard (SToO with >24 hr turnaround) component must now submit separate proposals for each. Previously such RToO/SToO programs were merged into the queue bands assuming "Any" observing conditions, but because of the growing impact of these overrides on the amount of IQ<70 and CC<50 time available to other programs, the SToO programs will now be merged (and executed) using the conditions they require (generally CC=70%-ile, IQ=70%-ile, or better).

There are strict target accessibility limits in force, though these have been relaxed slightly compared with past semesters. Targets for Gemini North should have 4h < RA < 24h or 0h< RA < 1h and -37 < Dec < +90; for Gemini South targets should have 5h < RA < 24h or 0h < RA < 2h and -90 < Dec < +28. Exceptions may be allowed for very short observations, or with relaxed observing constraints. For 2012A there are additional constraints on targets for NICI and T-ReCS; or if a program requires unrestricted access (e.g. MOS programs that require pre-imaging, long observations, and multi-epoch observations); and for all LGS programs at Gemini North.

The community should note that the Observatory welcomes proposals which use the full range of observing conditions. This includes proposals that can use cloudy (CC>70%) conditions, which implies a loss of signal of at least 30%, and up to a factor of 6.

Gemini North

The instruments available on Gemini North are:

the GMOS optical imager, multi-object, and integral field spectrograph. Applicants should refer to the instrument web pages for updated sensitivities and wavelength response range as the detector upgrade is ongoing.
the GNIRS 1-5 micron long-slit spectrograph. Imaging with GNIRS is also possible, although the field of view and filter selection is limited, and the optics do not give diffraction-limited image quality.
the NIRI near-infrared imager.
the NIFS near-infrared integral field unit spectrograph.
the Michelle mid-infrared imager and spectrograph. Michelle will most likely only be available for one or two short periods during the semester, depending on demand. Neither imaging polarimetry nor spectropolarimetry will be offered with Michelle in 2012A.

GNIRS, NIRI, and NIFS can be used in conjunction with the ALTAIR adaptive optics system, using natural or laser guide stars.

Gemini South

The instruments available on Gemini South are:

the GMOS optical imager, multi-object, and integral field spectrograph.
the NICI near-infrared adaptive optics-fed, dual-channel coronagraphic imager. NICI will most likely be mounted from mid-March to June 2012, and targets for NICI should be limited to 7 < RA < 0.
the T-ReCS mid-infrared imager and spectrograph. T-ReCS will most likely be mounted from May to July 2012 and targets for T-ReCS should be limited to 9 < RA < 2.

The near-infrared imager and spectrograph FLAMINGOS-2, the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics system GeMS, and the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager will all be undergoing extensive commissioning activities at Gemini South throughout 2012A, but are not ready to be offered for community use. Depending on progress a call for Systems Verification programs with FLAMINGOS-2 and/or GSAOI+GeMS may be issued early in 2012A.

Subaru

Between 4 and 8 classical nights on Subaru are available to the Gemini community. The minimum request is 1 night - partial nights cannot be supported. Due to a recent cooling system incident the availability of Suprime-Cam and the Cassegrain instruments is limited. In addition Subaru is expected to have extensive downtime in the 2012A semester for Hyper Suprime Cam commissioning, but the dates are yet to be determined. Thus, unlike in past semesters explicit windows are not set for 2012A. Applicants must be as flexible as possible with their scheduling requirements.

The instruments and their availability on Subaru are:

FMOS, a near-infrared fiber-fed multi-object spectrograph, offered on a shared-risks basis for both high- and low-resolution mode with IRS1 and IRS2, although IRS2 has additional noise which is being investigated.
COMICS, a mid-infrared camera and spectrograph, is available throughout 2012A without the auto-guider (but only the latter half of the 2012A semester if the guider is required) in shared-risk mode.
HDS, an optical high dispersion spectrograph with a resolution up to R=160,000.
IRCS, a near-infrared camera with coronagraphic and natural guide star adaptive optics modes, as well as longslit spectroscopy with resolution up to R=20,000.
MOIRCS, a wide-field near-infrared imager and multi-object spectrograph, is available throughout 2012A without the auto-guider (but only the latter half of the semester if the guider is required) in shared-risk mode. Note that spectroscopy with MOIRCS requires the autoguider.
Suprime-Cam, a prime-focus optical wide-field imager is available in the latter half of the 2012A semester only, in shared-risk mode.

Keck

For semester 2012A there will no Gemini-Keck telescope time exchange offered. We hope to be able to offer this again in 2012B.

Available Time

A total of 78 hours of time on Gemini North, and 56 hours on Gemini South are nominally available for ATAC to allocate. Note that only 80% of the total queue time will be filled at ITAC, with the remainder (which used to be allocated to Band 3 programs using the poorest conditions) now used for the Poor Weather queue. The amount of science time on Gemini South is constrained by the significant amount of time required to commission both FLAMINGOS-2 and GeMS. If one telescope is far more oversubscribed than the other, we may arrange a swap of nights with another partner country with an opposite imbalance, so as to even out demand.

ATAC encourages applications which can tolerate a wide range of observing conditions on Gemini. Note that by being able to relax their observing condition constraints, and avoiding the most sought-after right ascensions, ATAC programs in Band 3 have achieved a better-than-average completion rate. ATAC would also welcome more ambitious Gemini proposals seeking substantial fractions of Australian time, as well as large programs seeking time jointly with other Gemini partners.

Classical Observing with Gemini

In certain situations, observing in "classical" mode where the PI is assigned specific nights on one of the Gemini telescopes and travels to the telescope to carry out these observations, may be called for. As classical time is top-sliced from a partner's allocation with a consequent reduction in the size of queue Bands 1-3, and there is the usual risk that the necessary observing conditions may not be met on the allocated night(s), the case for a classical versus a queue allocation needs to be a strong one. Nevertheless ATAC has assigned classical nights on Gemini in past semesters and welcomes all such proposals. In the event that Australian-based observers are allocated classical nights on either Gemini North or Gemini South, the AAO will reimburse the observer(s) for associated costs on a similar basis to the policies for scheduled Magellan observers.

Submitting a Proposal

The Gemini Phase I Proposal Tool (PIT) is a Java program which must be installed on the applicant's own computer (Solaris, Mac OS-X, Linux, or Windows); as usual a new version is available for the 2012A round, and must be used. It can be downloaded from PIT Installation. Please see the Supporting Information web page for further details about:

Applicants are strongly encouraged to ask for a fraction of time in a multi-partner (Joint) proposal proportional to their intellectual involvement in the project, rather than divided up in proportion to the partner share of the proposers from different countries.

Prospective applicants should familiarise themselves with the various modes of observing offered by Gemini, as well as the web pages of the instruments they want to use.

The electronic submission process built into the PIT for Australian proposals will send the proposal XML file and associated attached files to the Australian Gemini Office at the Australian Astronomical Observatory, which is the service organization for ATAC. As part of the submission process, the proposal will be automatically validated and if errors are found, these will be reported via a pop-up window within the PIT. Invalid proposals are not accepted and it is the proposer's responsibility to fix the error(s). If validation is successful, receipt of the proposal XML file and attachment will be acknowledged via this pop-up window and the proposal will be assigned a reference number - you will not receive any acknowledgement e-mail. If you do not get an acknowledgement or reference number but the PIT Submit tab shows the proposal status as "Submitted", please send an e-mail to ausgo -@- aao.gov.au - do not try to re-submit the proposal.

If time is being requested on both Gemini North and Gemini South for the one scientific program, then separate proposals need to be submitted for each telescope.

Poor weather proposals can be submitted at any time. These are submitted directly to Gemini and assessed by the Head of Science Operations at each Gemini telescope, so there is no need to worry about proposal deadlines (or getting the proposal past ATAC). Proposals submitted for regular queue time but not ranked highly enough by ATAC to be allocated time in Bands 1-3 may be also be assigned to the Poor Weather Queue by ATAC if they can still make use of such conditions.

ATAC Specific Requirements

In the interests of consistency, ATAC expects all applicants to list the full set of literature references cited in their scientific and technical justification sections as a text attachment to that section, rather than within the body of the section itself. Applicants may then use the full quota of 1000 words in each section for their science and technical cases, without worrying about the number or formatting of references cited. Applicants may use whatever style of referencing (e.g. numbers in square brackets, or by author(s) and year) they wish.
You should enter raw text only (no LaTeX markup commands) into the PIT.
Abstract: should have a maximum of 200 words (but really, a straightforward summary of your proposal should need no more than 120 words).
Scientific (and Technical) Justification: These fields within the PIT need to be completed, with a maximum of 1000 words each. Note that the full list of References cited should now be included as a text attachment within the PIT. Up to three figures can also be attached; formats accepted include JPEG, GIF, and PDF but not Postscript. Postscript figures should be converted to PDF first.
Publications: limited to (a) PI and/or Co-I papers relevant to the current proposal, and (b) PI publications resulting from previous allocations of Gemini time, both within the previous two years only.
Previous Time Allocations: limited to the previous 4 semesters. PIs should include all their Gemini allocations for this or other projects, as well as allocations (from ATAC or otherwise) on any other telescopes that are relevant to the current proposal.

Need Help?

All requests for assistance and information regarding new proposals, the available instruments, the PIT, etc, should be handled through the Gemini HelpDesk. This Web-based system will forward the query initially to AusGO staff, who may then escalate it to other National Gemini Office staff, or Gemini Observatory staff, as required.

Some hints on maximising your chances of getting time (and data!)

Due to the very high demand for a limited number of exchange nights on Keck and Subaru, ATAC applicants are strongly encouraged to consider submitting Joint proposals with other Gemini partners in order to improve their chances of getting exchange time.

ATAC proposals have to be read and assessed against a cohort of proposals extending across all of astronomy. ATAC members therefore have a wide range of backgrounds and expertise spanning all areas of astronomy. However, not all committee members may be experts in your area, and familiar with all its acronyms and jargon. Even when all acronyms are defined as they are used, the excessive use of acronyms can quickly exhaust the mental stack of even the most careful and committed reader. Proposals that assume all readers have an intimate knowledge of all the acronyms and jargon used across all of astronomy, and/or an infinite capacity for remembering new acronyms, may therefore put themselves at an unnecessary disadvantage when it comes to being easily read and understood by ATAC members.

Applicants are advised to clearly state (in your technical justification) a realistic minimum total time required for their project to be viable. Please note that there is no penalty involved in quoting a minimum time less than the requested time, as ATAC does not normally allocate less than the requested time. Indeed, allocations in Band 3 will sometimes be for larger amounts of time than originally sought, to partly compensate for the poorer observing conditions under which such programs will need to be executed. Such a statement could help you in two circumstances:

Firstly, if your proposal is ranked near the cut-off, there may not be enough Australian time left to give you your full allocation. Your statement will help ATAC decide whether it is scientifically useful to give you less than your requested time, or whether the time should be given to another smaller proposal. Several proposals that set "minimum time = requested time" have in the past been unsuccessful for exactly this reason.
Secondly, if your proposal asks for time from several partner countries, and Australia ranks it highly but other partners rank it poorly, it will help ATAC decide whether it is worth giving you just the Australian time, or whether this is scientifically useless by itself. This too is a not infrequent occurrence.

Applicants are also required to state clearly what you would do if your proposal was awarded time in Band 3. There is a special tab in the PIT to do this. Note that filling in this tab in no way reduces your chances of being ranked in Band 1 or 2; leaving it blank however can severely limit your chances of getting into any band. Proposals in Band 3 are very unlikely to be carried out if they require the best (and most requested) weather conditions. If your program is ranked in the highest bands, this will make no difference. But if it is ranked in Band 3, we will ask you (if necessary) to think about shortening it, downgrading the weather constraints, picking brighter targets or a wider range of potential targets, and otherwise increasing the chance that it will actually get done. If ATAC does not feel that these changes can be made in a way that preserves at least some useful science, your proposal may be dropped from the list and replaced by one with a lower scientific ranking, but more chance of being executed in Band 3. Gemini also offer several suggestions for making the most of Band 3 time.

Having a range of targets at different RAs and Decs can help your chance of being executed in the Gemini queue. List as many targets as you like, but insert a note explaining how many you actually are requesting time to observe. Where possible, try to avoid the most-requested RAs.

Due to the requirement that all Laser Guide Star targets receive clearance in advance from US Space Command, it is recommended that all such programs be split into blocks of no more than ~1.5 hrs each in order to be schedulable. Also, the need for Laser Guide Stars when observing calibration targets should be weighed up against the risk of not being able to schedule the calibration observations alongside the science target observations.

Getting your Phase II program completed early (for targets observable early in the semester) can do wonders for the chances of your program being executed. In some cases, programs allocated time in the next semester have been executed before the current semester has even finished!

Australian Gemini Office, ausgo -@- aao.gov.au

Australian Access to the Gemini, Keck, and Subaru Telescopes