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Telescopes and Instruments for 2013B


Observing time at the facilities available through the National Optical Astronomy Observatory is allocated via peer review twice a year. Proposals must be received by Thursday, 28 March 2013 for the upcoming 2013B semester (August 2013 through January 2014). All proposals are due the evening of the due date by 11:59pm MST.

Please read the following sections for information on telescope and instrument availability at Gemini North and South, Keck, Subaru, AAT, CTIO, and KPNO for the 2013B semester.



What's New on Facilities Available through NOAO


The following changes to instrumentation at all facilities available through NOAO are noted here to alert investigators preparing proposals. For more information, see the NOAO Newsletter.


Gemini North and South

The Gemini Observatory released a Call for Proposals for 2013B on March 1. Proposers requesting Gemini time only are advised to use the Gemini Phase-I Tool (PIT) as opposed to the NOAO Web Proposal Form.


Gemini-Subaru Exchange

Gemini and Subaru are continuing their time-exchange program. Five to ten classically-scheduled nights will be available to the Gemini community. Please see the Gemini call for proposals for more information.



Community Access Time

Keck: A total of ten nights of classically-scheduled observing time will be available to the community on the 10-m telescopes of the W.M. Keck Observatory in 2013B. All facility-class instruments and modes are available to the community.

AAT: Due to a time-exchange program between CTIO and the Australian Astronomical Observatory, ten nights of classical observing time at the 3.9m Anglo-Austrlian Telescope will be available to the community during 2013B. All facility instruments are available.


CTIO

Availability of the Blanco in 2013B: CTIO has completed commissioning of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-m telescope and has begin regular science observations as of the start of 2013. The Dark Energy Survey (DES) has been granted 105 nights per year over a period of five years, primarily in "B" semesters. The community will have access to roughly one week per month in September through January. For more information see the article on page 14 of the March 2013 issue of the NOAO Newsletter.

An accident with the f/8 secondary mirror occurred in February 2012, and the mirror has been moved to Tucson for assessment and repairs. Pending successful repair and recommissionning of the f/8 secondary, ISPI will be available for the 2nd half of 2013B. See http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/blanco-f8-secondary-incident, which will be updated as more information is available.

SOAR Service & Remote Observing: Given limited staff availability, we cannot support service observing for NOAO proposals at SOAR.

For 2013B remote observing is being offered for NOAO and CNTAC proposals requesting time with SOI, Spartan, OSIRIS, or the Goodman Spectrograph, provided: (a) the person who will carry out the observations has previously observed at SOAR using the instrument(s) requested in the proposal; and (b) our review of the proposal does not reveal any special technical requirements which would make it preferable to have an observer on-site.

If you are requesting remote observing, please make a note of this in the "Scheduling constraints and non-usable dates" section that appears at the bottom of the first page of the NOAO proposal form.

Remote observers are strongly advised to contact us well in advance of the date of their run to arrange a check to ensure that their hardware and software are correctly configured, and in particular that there are no firewall issues; this may require the help and participation of their local computer support experts. Please note that while our connection to the US internet is quite reliable, network outages do occasionally occur, often without advance warning, and typically at points along the route not under our control. Such failures will certainly impact the efficiency of remote observing, and may cause the loss of part or all of the night's observing.

For more information, see http://www.soartelescope.org/observing/remote-observing-at-soar

SOAR Goodman Spectrograph: The Goodman spectrograph will be available for 2013B in single slit mode with the full complement of gratings (see http://www.soartelescope.org/observing/documentation/goodman-high-throughput-spectrograph/goodman-manual/overview) . Commissioned gratings include 400, 600, 930, 1200 and 2100 l/mm. Imaging mode may also be used as a supporting component of a primarily spectroscopic program. Filters other than the U, B, V, and Rc set normally installed in the spectrograph, must be requested in the proposal, or it may not be possible to make them available.

SOAR Spartan IR Imager: The Spartan IR Camera is available in the low resolution mode. The high resolution mode is commissioned, but has seen very little use. Spartan should be preferred to OSIRIS for most NIR imaging applications.

SOAR Adaptive Module (SAM): The SOAR Adaptive Module (SAM) is offered in shared-risk mode during the 2013B semester.

CTIO Small Telescopes: Time on the small telescopes at CTIO will be available to NOAO users in 2013B via the usual proposal process. The telescopes are operated by the SMARTS consortium and NOAO is a 15% partner. For more information, please see the article "SMARTS Consortium Enters New Era as 'SMARTS III'" on page 19 of the March 2013 issue of the NOAO Newsletter.

The 1.5-m and 1.3-m telescopes are only available in service/queue mode. The 0.9-m is only available in classically-scheduled "user" nights, with requests for 7 full nights strongly preferred. The 1.0-m telescope is no longer available.

Non-sidereal tracking is no longer supported as service or queue observing. The only option for non-sidereal is user time on the 0.9m.


KPNO

Note: Useful information for planning observations with KPNO Instruments Available for 2013B is summarized In the March 2013 NOAO Newsletter and at http://www.noao.edu/kpno/instruments.html

NEWFIRM (4m): Permanently installed filters include J, H, and Ks. See http://www.noao.edu/ets/newfirm/ for further information, filter availability, and policy on filter changes.

Phoenix (4m and 2.1m): Phoenix, the NOAO high-resolution, 1- to 5-micron, infrared spectrograph has returned to KPNO after a stint at Gemini South. Please see http://www.noao.edu/kpno/phoenix/ before preparing a proposal.

KOSMOS (4m) Proposers should write proposals using the capabilities offered by RCSP, but an interest in adapting the proposal to use KOSMOS may be expressed. See the article by Jay Elias on page 16 of the March 2012 NOAO Newsletter for more details.

WIYN Instrument Blocking: Please see the article "Observing at WIYN in 2013B" on page 17 of the March 2013 issue of the NOAO Newsletter for important information on instrument scheduling in 2013B. Please also check http://www.wiyn.org/observe/status.html for updates before writing a proposal.

GoldCam (2.1m): The GoldCam CCD spectrograph has been pulled from service on the 2.1-m telescope after developing a serious degradation in performance. A replacement CCD has been acquired, and an upgrade of the instrument is planned.

HDI (0.9m): The Half-Degree Imager (HDI) is offered on a shared-risk basis for 2013B. Please check http://www.wiyn.org/observe/status.html for updates before writing a proposal.

Remote Observing: KPNO offers remote observing for selected programs in 2013B. If you are interested in this opportunity, please see the requirements for observing remotely at http://www.noao.edu/kpno/remote.html . If you are requesting remote observing, please make a note of this in the "Scheduling constraints and non-usable dates" section that appears at the bottom of the first page of the NOAO proposal form and include any additional details in the "Technical Description" text of your observing run.



Telescope and Instrument Lists for 2013B


The following telescope/instrument/detector combinations are available in 2013B. This list is revised twice a year and is published in the NOAO Newsletter and on this web page (http://www.noao.edu/noaoprop/help/facilities.html .)


Instruments at Gemini Telescopes
Proposal CodeInstrument/Detector
Gemini North
GMOS-N Gemini Optical Imager, Multi-Object Spectrograph and IFU
GNIRS Gemini Near Infra-Red Spectrograph
NIRI Near-Infrared Imager
NIFS near-IR IFU spectrograph
TEXES Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectograph (visitor instrument)
DSSI DSSI Speckle Camera (visitor instrument)

Gemini South
GMOS-S Gemini Optical Imager, Multi-Object Spectrograph and IFU
GSAOI + GeMS Gemini South AO Imager and Multi-Conjugate AO System
FLAMINGOS-2 Near-IR wide field imager and spectrometer.

Subaru (Exchange Time)
COMICS Cooled Mid-IR Camera and Spectrometer
FMOS Near-IR Fiber-Fed Multi-Object Spectrograph
FOCAS Faint Object Camera and Spectrograph
HDS High Dispersion Spectrograph
IRCS IR Camera and Spectrograph
IRCS+AO188 IRCS + Natural and Laser Guide Star AO
MOIRCS Multi-Object IR Camera and Spectrograph
Suprime-Cam wide-field Optical Imager

Instruments at the Keck Telescopes
Proposal CodeInstrument/Detector
Keck-I
HIRESb High-Resolution Optical Echelle Spectrograph (blue)
HIRESr High-Resolution Optical Echelle Spectrograph (red)
LRIS Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
LRISp Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (w/polarimeter)
OSIRIS-NGS Near-IR AO IFU spectrograph with natural guide star
OSIRIS-LGS Near-IR AO IFU spectrograph with laser guide star
MOSFIRE near-IR Multi-Object Spectrograph

Keck-II
DEIMOS DEep Imaging Multi-Object Spectrograph
ESI Echellette Spectrograph and Imager
ESIi Echellette Spectrograph and Imager + IFU
NIRSPEC Near-IR Echelle Spectrograph
NIRSPAO-NGS Near-IR Echelle Spectrograph with natural guide star
NIRSPAO-LGS Near-IR Echelle Spectrograph laser guide star
NIRC2-NGS Near-IR AO imager and spectrograph with natural guide star
NIRC2-LGS Near-IR AO imager and spectrograph with laser guide star

Instruments at the Anglo-Australian Telescope
Proposal CodeInstrument/Detector
AAOmega+2dF Fiber-fed Optical Spectrograph
AAOmega+SPIRAL 512-element optical IFU
HERMES+2dF High Efficiency and Resolution Multi-Element Spectrograph
IRIS2 n-IR imager and longslit/multi-slit spectrograph
UCLES Cross-dispersed Echelle Spectrograph
UCLES +CYCLOPS2 Cross-dispersed Echelle Spectrograph + 16-element IFU
UHRF ultra high resolution echelle spectrograph


Instruments at CTIO Telescopes
Proposal CodeInstrument/Detector
4-m Blanco Telescope
DECam Dark Energy Camera
ISPI IR SidePort Imager + 2K HgCdTe

4-m SOAR Telescope
Goodman Goodman Spectrograph + Fairchild 4Kx4K CCD
SOISOAR Optical Imager + E2V 4Kx4K Mosaic
OSIRISOhio State IR Imager/Spectrometer
Spartan Spartan IR Imager
SAM SOAR Adaptive Module

1.5-m Telescope
CHIRON CHIRON fiber echelle spectrograph

1.3m Telescope
ANDI+CCDIR Cass Direct + CCD/IR Queue-Service

0.9-m Telescope
CFIM+T2K Cass Direct + SITe 2K CCD


Primary Instruments/Detectors at KPNO Telescopes
Proposal CodeInstrument/Detector
4-m Mayall Telescope
MOSA Prime Focus CCD Camera with Mosaic Imager
NEWFIRMvery wide-field IR imager
Phoenix Phoenix hi-res IR Spectrometer
KOSMOSKitt Peak Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph
FLMNIR Imager/Spectrometer with 2Kx2K HgCdTe
FLMNMIR Imager/Spectrometer with 2Kx2K HgCdTe + multislits
RCSPL+T2KAR-C Spectrograph + T2KA CCD, Longslit
RCSPM+T2KAR-C Spectrograph + T2KA CCD, Multislits
RCSPL+LB1AR-C Spectrograph + LB1A 1980x800 CCD, Longslit
RCSPM+LB1AR-C Spectrograph + LB1A 1980x800 CCD, Multislits
ECHLR+T2KAEchelle Spectrograph (Red Long camera)
ECHLB+T2KAEchelle Spectrograph (Blue Long camera)
ECHUV+T2KAEchelle Spectrograph (UVFast camera)

WIYN (3.5-m Telescope)
pODI(partial focal plane) One Degree Imager
HYDRBHydra + Bench Spectrograph + STA1 CCD, Blue camera
HYDRRHydra + Bench Spectrograph + STA1 CCD, Red camera
SPSPKB SparsePak Fiber Array + Bench Spectrograph + STA1, Blue camera
SPSPKR SparsePak Fiber Array + Bench Spectrograph + STA1, Red camera
WHIRCWIYN High Resolution IR Camera

2.1-m Telescope
CFIM+STA2 CCD Imager, STA2
CFIM+T2KB CCD Imager, T2KB
Phoenix hi-res IR Spectrometer
FLMNIR Imager/Spectrometer with 2Kx2K HgCdTe

WIYN (0.9-m Telescope)
HDI Half-Degree Imager





Instrument Contacts


QUESTIONS? You can contact staff scientists using the information linked below.

Gemini Staff Contacts:

Gemini assistance is available by sending email to an NOAO Gemini Science Center Instrument Support Scientist, to ngsc@noao.edu, or through the Gemini Help Desk at http://helpdesk.gemini.edu/.

Keck Staff Contacts:

Send email to this general email address: keck@noao.edu, or (for instrument questions only) directly contact the "CARA Contact" listed on the Keck Instruments Page.

CTIO Staff Contacts:

Please see CTIO's Staff Contact List.

KPNO Staff Contacts:

Please see KPNO's Staff Contact List.


Proposal questions, as well as any comments and/or suggestions, may be directed to noaoprop-help@noao.edu

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NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
Last updated: March 5 2013

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NOAO >   Observing Information >   2013B Instruments List

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