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Preparing for WIYN Proposals (1Mar94) (from KPNO, NOAO Newsletter No. 37, 1 March 1994) With the WIYN Observatory nearing completion, it is not too early for potential users to begin planning for their observations. Commencement of science operations continues to be scheduled for January 1995. During approximately the first six months of WIYN science operations, all approved proposals for NOAO WIYN time will be scheduled as "shared risk" queued observations, as described in "Planning for Early WIYN Science Operations" in NOAO Newsletter No. 36 (December 1993). The anticipated deadline for accepting applications for WIYN "shared risk" queue observations is 30 September 1994. WIYN proposal and time allocation process details have not been finalized at this time. These details will be released on 15 August 1994. At that time, we will describe the current status of the telescope and instrumentation as well as the application, proposal review, and program scheduling process. All material will be in the directory wiyn/sciops/shared accessible by anonymous ftp to the machine "ftp.noao.edu". The README file in that directory will provide further instructions. Please contact Dave Silva (dsilva@noao.edu or 602-325-9358) if further assistance is required. Readers may request notification of information release either in electronic or paper form from Dave Silva. To assist in preliminary planning for WIYN observations, we now describe the anticipated capabilities of the two instruments which will be available to NOAO users of WIYN: Hydra/MOS and the WIYN Imager. Further WIYN instrument information will be included in the 15 August proposal release. The WIYN Imager will be mounted at one Nasmyth focus. At the heart of the Imager, we hope to have a Mini-Mosaic CCD system. The Mini-Mosaic is a 2 x 2 mosaic of Loral 2048 x 2048 CCDs. The individual CCDs are being thinned and AR-coated by Mike Lesser of Steward Observatory. Depending on the final AR-coating, these CCDs are likely to have very high quantum efficiency (70%+) below 4000 A. The Mini-Mosaic is being constructed by the NOAO/KPNO CCD group led by Rich Reed. The pixel size is 15 microns which translates to 0.14 arcsec/pixel and a total FOV of approximately 575 x 575 arcsecs. At this writing, it is anticipated that the Imager will be available for general "shared risk" use on approximately 1 January 1995. The Hydra Multi-Object Spectrograph (Hydra/MOS) will be mounted at the other WIYN Nasmyth focus. For a complete description of Hydra/MOS at WIYN, see "Hydra to Undergo Metamorphosis for WIYN Telescope" in NOAO Newsletter No. 35 (September 1993). At this writing, it is anticipated that Hydra/MOS will be available for general use by 1 March 1995. The general plan for the WIYN "shared risk" science program is to rank Imager and Hydra/MOS proposals jointly and then construct an observation queue that addresses the most scientifically meritorious projects while thoroughly testing WIYN technical capabilities. However, we intend to review and schedule separately Imager observations that require extraordinary image size (< 0.7 arcsec FWHM). WIYN was designed to deliver 0.40 arcsec FWHM images not including atmospheric distortion (Johns and Pilachowski 1990, SPIE Conf. Proc. Vol. 1236, "Advanced Technology Optical Telescopes IV", p. 2). What is the intrinsic seeing on Kitt Peak? The median seeing at the MDM Hiltner 2.4-m is clearly subarcsecond and is often in the 0.6-0.7 arcsec FWHM range on long exposures. If the WIYN site is as good as the MDM Hiltner site, we expect that WIYN will deliver median images of 0.7 arcsecs FWHM with some periods of sub-half-arcsecond images. As a comparison, median uncorrected images at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope are about 0.7 arcsecs FWHM. To take advantage of those times, NOAO will accept WIYN proposals for Imager projects that require exceptional seeing. These proposals will be ranked by scientific merit as usual and then placed in a separate observing queue. When exceptional seeing conditions arise, observations in this queue will take precedence over the normal MOS/Imager queue. Given the likely low frequency of such exceptional periods, we caution potential proposers that it is likely that only small programs will be accepted during "shared risk." Further details about this special program will be released on 15 August. We encourage all potential WIYN proposers to contact Dave Silva (dsilva@noao.edu) with questions about the capabilities described above. We also welcome any and all science operations suggestions. Dave Silva, Caty Pilachowski
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