NOAO > Observing Information > 2009B Instruments List
|
NOAO > Observing Information > 2009B Instruments List |
|
Observing time at the facilities available through the National Optical Astronomy Observatory is allocated via peer review twice a year. Standard proposals must be received by 31 March for the upcoming August through January semester. 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, Magellan, MMT, CTIO, and KPNO for the 2009B semester.
The following changes to instrumentation at all facilities available
through NOAO including Gemini North and South, Keck, Magellan,
MMT, CTIO, and KPNO are
noted here to alert investigators preparing proposals. For
more information, see the NOAO Newsletter.
The International Gemini Observatory has issued a Call for Proposals for 2009B.
Gemini and Subaru are continuing their time-exchange program that makes available Suprime-Cam (prime-focus optical imager, 0.5 degree field) and MOIRCS (near-IR wide field imager and multi-object spectrograph).
Keck: A minimum of fourteen (and potentially as many as nineteen) nights of classically-scheduled observing time will be available to the community on the 10-m telescopes of the W.M. Keck Observatory in 2009B. All facility-class instruments and modes (including interferometry) are available to the community.
Magellan: A total of ten nights of classically scheduled time on the 6.5-m Baade and Clay telescopes of the Magellan Project at Las Campanas Observatory will be available to the community in 2009B.
MMT: Fifteen nights of classically scheduled time on the 6.5-m telescope at the MMT Observatory will be available to the community during 2009B.
SOAR Service & Remote Observing
Given limited staff availability, we cannot support service observing in 2009B for NOAO proposals. The service observing offered for 2009A was only for the Goodman spectrograph during the final stages of commisioning, in order to support the rapidly changing documentation and instrument conditions.
Similarly, we cannot currently support remote observing for NOAO proposals. We have performed limited experiments in remote observing on SOAR for NOAO proposals, and have found the time investment necessary to set up the necessary secure connections prohibitive given our current staff levels. We will continue to explore ways to improve the efficiency of setting up remote observing sessions, and hope to offer this capability in the future.
SOAR Goodman Spectrograph
The Goodman spectrograph will be available for 2009B in single slit mode with the low , medium, and high-resolution gratings. Direct imaging mode is also available, but only if associated with the spectroscopy. For imaging programs alone SOI should be chosen. The available documentation includes a comparison between the Goodman and RC spectrographs. At scheduling time we will review the Goodman and RC Spectrograph proposals. If there are too many well-ranked programs and/or if there are technical and scheduling reasons, we will consider moving some programs between the two spectrographs.
SOAR Spartan IR Imager
The SOAR Spartan IR Imager is being commissioned in 2009A and 2009B. Although it was not deemed ready for general visiting astronomer use by the time of the call for proposals, NOAO may issue a special call for proposals for Science Verification (SV) observations with Spartan. If this occurs, the call will be announced in NOAO's electronic newsletter "Currents". In addition, if Spartan commissioning goes smoothly, during the scheduling process we will evaluate successful OSIRIS imaging proposals and will offer Spartan as an alternative if at that time the instrument is sufficiently ready and it appears that to be better matched to the science program.
SOAR Instrument Documentation
Documentation for both the SOAR Optical Imager (SOI) and the Goodman Spectrograph has been updated to reflect the current use of these instruments. This documentation is available at http://www.ctio.noao.edu/~points/soar.html.
Blanco 4-m RC Spectrograph: The RC spectrograph will be available in 2009B, assuming a total of at least of 6 nights are requested by proposals above the scheduling cut-off. The Goodman spectrograph on SOAR is a preferable alternative, offering generally better performance. compared to the RC spectrograph. Those proposing for the RC spectrograph should state why their program cannot be carried out at SOAR with the Goodman spectrograph.
Visitor Instruments at the Blanco 4-m: Visitor instruments are difficult for us to accommodate, and may not be possible to schedule despite a high grade from the TAC. Prior discussion is essential so that advice can be given on whether a proposed instrument would be acceptable. We prefer that any proposal be substantial (e.g. a week), and that the scheduling window be 2-3 months wide. Possible long term loan of a visitor instrument that is of potential interest to the broad US community should be initiated by contact with the CTIO Director.
CTIO Small Telescopes: Time on the small telescopes at CTIO will be available to NOAO users in 2009B via the usual proposal process. The telescopes are now operated by the SMARTS consortium and NOAO is a 25% partner. Please see the CTIO SMARTS Page for details regarding instrument availability and observing modes.
Be sure to specify whether you prefer service observing or classically-scheduled nights by choosing the appropriate mode selection on the proposal form, remembering that the 1.5m and 1.3m telescopes are only available in service/queue mode, the 1.0m telescope is only available in classical mode, while the 0.9m is scheduled service and classical in 7-night alternating blocks. If you are asking for 0.9m classical time, please note that requests for 7 full nights are strongly preferred.
1.5m Fiber Echelle Spectrograph: This is a new capability for the 1.5m telescope. It is described at http://www.ctio.noao.edu/~atokovin/echelle/index.html and in the September 2008 NOAO Newsletter. Observing constraints at the 1.5m are described at http://www.noao.edu/smarts/smarts1.5m.html. The spectrograph is fed by a single 2.4 arcsec diameter fiber from the telescope. The spectral resolution is 42000 (it can be reduced to 30000 while gaining 50% in efficiency), and wavelength range is 4020-7300 Angstroms. An iodine cell is available for precise RV work. A star of V=5 magnitude gives detected flux 100 e/s/pixel, so a V=7 star spectrum will reach S/N=100 per 0.07-Angstrom pixel in a 10-min. exposure. A low-noise SITe 2Kx2K CCD is used as detector.. The data reduction pipeline is under construction. Note that the 1.5m telescope is only available in service/queue mode and is operated by the SMARTS Consortium - see below. A large consortium program will use parts of many nights in 2009B, and other programs using the RC spectrograph (30 minute switch-over) may also share the nights. Therefore a proposal that asks for a fixed block of time with no flexibility may not be able to be scheduled, whereas the same sized program spread over a longer period of time will likely fit very well into the service/queue environment. Please address this point in proposals.
Hydra/SparsePak (WIYN): STA1 is the offered Bench CCD. A 3300 l/mm VPH grating will be available in shared-risk mode. Following successful commissioning, a new collimator is in use. Observers using the Bench Spectrograph Camera should plan for the same dispersion and wavelength range, but a 60-100% increase in throughput. Depending on the configuration, there may be up to a 20% reduction in the instrumental resolution. Observers requesting the Simmons camera should note that the combination of the new CCD and new collimator constrains the number of fibers projected onto the CCD. Observers are strongly encouraged to view http://www.wiyn.org/instrument/bench_upgrade.html for further details to help plan observations.
OPTIC (WIYN): Some WIYN imaging nights might be scheduled with the visiting University of Hawaii OPTIC camera instead of Mini-Mosaic. For details, please see the article on page 35 of the September 2004 issue of the NOAO Newsletter and the article on page 35 of the March 2006 NOAO Newsletter. In your technical justification please explicitly state any preference between MIMO and OPTIC for your observing needs. The fast-guiding capability of OPTIC is now a supported mode for NOAO users on WIYN. At this time, OPTIC is expected to be available at WIYN from August through October.
WHIRC (WIYN): This WIYN High-Resolution IR Camera, built by Dr. Margaret Meixner (STScI) and collaborators, will be available for use during 2009B. It will be available for shared-risk use with the WTTM module, Please watch http://www.noao.edu/kpno/WHIRC_instrument.htm for updates.
IRMOS (4m): The IR multi-object spectrograph will be available pending sufficient proposal demand and block-scheduling constraints.
The following telescope/instrument/detector combinations are available in 2009B. This list is revised twice a year and is published in the NOAO Newsletter (March and September issues) and on this web page (http://www.noao.edu/noaoprop/help/facilities.html .)
A schedule of instrument availability for future semesters is available for CTIO facilities at http://www.ctio.noao.edu/telescopes/TheFuture/crystal_ball.html.
QUESTIONS? You can contact staff scientists using the information linked below.
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/.
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.
Send email to this general email address: magellan@noao.edu
Send email to this general email address: mmt@noao.edu
Please see CTIO's Staff Contact List.
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
|
NOAO is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA),
Inc. under cooperative agreement with the
National Science Foundation. |
|
|
NOAO > Observing Information > 2009B Instruments List |
|