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Telescopes and Instruments for 2012A

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 30 September for the upcoming February through July 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, MMT, Palomar, CHARA, CTIO, and KPNO for the 2012A semester.

• What's New on Nighttime Telescopes Available through NOAO
• Telescope and Instrument Lists for 2012A
• Instrument Contacts

What's New on Nighttime Telescopes 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 has issued a Call for Proposals for 2012A.

Gemini-Subaru Exchange

Gemini and Subaru are continuing their time-exchange program. A total of up to eight classically-scheduled nights are expected to be available to the Gemini community. Subaru will be subject to extensive engineering downtime in 2012A and several instruments will have limited availability. Please see the Gemini call for proposals for more information.

Community Access Time

MMT: Up to twelve nights of classically scheduled time on the 6.5-m telescope at the MMT Observatory will be available to the community during 2012A.

Hale: Ten nights of classically scheduled time (with the Double Spectrograph or TripleSpec) on the 200-inch Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory will be available to the community during 2012A.

CHARA: About 50 hours of service observations with the CHARA Interferometer Array at Mt. Wilson will be available to the community during calendar year 2012. All proposals are due by 30 September (even for observations that would nominally fall in 2012B).

CTIO

Availability of the Blanco in 2012A: Starting in early 2012, CTIO will install and commission the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-m telescope. Due to the complexity of this installation, involving significant work to the telescope structure, the telescope will be unavailable for most of the 2012A semester. We anticipate roughly four weeks of community time in 2012A (in June or July) with f/8, during which we will make Hydra and ISPI available for community use, although probably via service or remote observing to maintain flexibility in the telescope and DECam commissioning schedule. For more information see the article by Chris Smith on page 20 of the September 2011 issue of the NOAO Newsletter.

SOAR Service & Remote Observing

Given limited staff availability, we cannot support service observing for NOAO proposals at SOAR.

For 2012A remote observing is being offered for NOAO and CNTAC proposals requesting time with SOI, 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. Remote observing with Spartan is not being offered at this time.

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 efficency 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 2012A in single slit mode with the full complement of gratings. Imaging mode may also be used as a supporting component of a primarily spectroscopic program. Filters other than the U, B, V, and R 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 IR imaging applications.

CTIO Small Telescopes: Time on the small telescopes at CTIO will be available to NOAO users in 2012A 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.

In 2012A, observing time and services at the 0.9- and 1.0-m telescope will be reduced. From January 1, 2012, only one out of the 0.9-m and 1.0-m will operate at a time. For more information, please see the article by Charles Bailyn on page 21 of the September 2011 issue of the NOAO Newsletter.

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.

Non-sidereal tracking is no longer supported as service or queue observing. Non-sidereal tracking does not work on the 1-m, so 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 2012A is summarized In the September 2011 NOAO Newsletter and at http://www.noao.edu/kpno/instruments.html

NEWFIRM (4m) NEWFIRM will be recommissioned in February 2012. Permanently installed filters include J, H, and Ks. See www.noao.edu/ets/newfirm/ for further information, filter availibility, and policy on filter changes.

KOSMOS (4m) Proposers should only write proposals for RCSP or MARS, but an interest in adapting the proposal to use KOSMOS may be expressed. See the KOSMOS article in the September 2011 NOAO Newsletter for more details.

MOSAIC (4m and 0.9m) The MOSAIC-1 camera has been upgraded with new E2V CCDs and Monsoon based controllers. It is offered for routine observing in 2012A. Availability at the WIYN 0.9m is strongly dependent on Mayall 4m scheduled use.

MIMO (WIYN) Plans are underway to upgrade MIMO. This upgrade will include new detectors, electronics, and operating system. Please see www.wiyn.org/observe/status.html prior to submitting your proposal to check on the status of the upgrade plan.

WHIRC (WIYN) WHIRC was built by Dr. Margaret Meixner (STSci) and collaborators. Proposals requiring use with WTTM should explicitly state this; new users of WTTM are advised to consult KPNO support staff for details.

CFIM (2.1m) T2KB is the default CCD for CFIM. STA2, with MONSOON controller, is available on request. Its main advantages are better DQE than T2KB, especially in U and B, and faster readout. The field is somewhat smaller; 10.2' (RA) x 6.6' (DEC), pixel scale is same as for T2KB. Potential users should consult KPNO support staff for details.

Telescope and Instrument Lists for 2012A

The following telescope/instrument/detector combinations are available in 2012A. 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 .)

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/.

MMT Staff Contact:

Send email to this general email address: mmt@noao.edu

Hale Staff Contact:

Send email to this general email address: hale@noao.edu

CHARA Staff Contact:

Send email to Steve Ridgway (sridgway@noao.edu).

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

NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. Last updated: September 2 2011

NOAO >   Observing Information >   2012A Instruments List

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