New and Notable Changes in 2024B
Generals:

  • All proposals to use Gemini in 2024B must use the 2024B Phase I template.

  • Classical mode observing is offered in semester 2024B for facility instruments only. Priority Visitor (PV) mode is offered at both Gemini North and Gemini South. If circumstances preclude having people on-site, however, then awarded PV time will revert to queue. PIs requesting Classical observing must state in their technical justification how the observations could be done in queue mode (with remote eavesdropping for data quality assessment and decision making). The "Bring One, Get One" Student Observer Support Program remains unavailable for semester 24B.

  • Gemini Observatory currently also operates a Graduate Student Visitor Program. Details of this are available here.

  • Gemini North is expected to be closed for 12 nights engineering maintenance for October 14 - 25, 2024, and for 1-3 nights in September (precise dates TBD) for testing and possible repair work. These dates are provisional, and may be subject to change.

  • Gemini South is expected to be closed for the first 9 nights of semester 24B (Aug 1 - 9, 2024). These dates are provisional, and may be subject to change.

  • Gemini North - GNIRS HR IFU:  The new GNIRS High Resolution IFU will be available for shared-risk observations during semester 24B.

  • Gemini North - TEXES (visiting instrument): Available for semester 24B, subject to demand.

  • Gemini North - NIFS, NIRI & GRACES: No longer offered.

  • Gemini South - IGRINS: No longer offered.

Phase I Submission Guidelines:

Proposals for time on Gemini, and for time on Subaru via the Gemini-Subaru time exchange program, must use the Gemini Phase I Tool (PIT). Latex and Word templates are available to create PDF attachments which include the science and technical cases, and investigator information. The template has been revised to enable the anonymous review process, and to make proposals requirements uniform across the partners. Two attachments are required for the proposal so that team information can be separated from the science case.

All Gemini proposals requesting time from the US, CA, BR, or AR must be anonymized. Proposals which do not meet the guidelines will be penalised. This applies to proposals requesting time only from these partners, as well as joint proposals requesting time from multiple participants which include any of these partners. This requirement applies whether it is the PI or a co-I that has the relevant partner affiliation.

Specific Timing Windows: In order to maximize the chances of completing observations with timing windows, 24B proposals should:

  • Provide a clear indication of the need for timing windows at Phase 1. If they are highly constraining (e.g. fewer than 6 observing possibilities), then PIs are strongly recommended to list them explicitly.

  • Use observing constraints appropriate to the expected conditions. For example, if the only timing window for your proposal occurs during dark time, you should make sure to choose SB20 or 50 as appropriate.

Additional options in the Time Requests module in the PIT are available for semester 2024B:

  • The Gemini 2024B Phase 1 Tool includes options to specify that the proposal is for the AEON multi-telescope-facility system. 

  • Also in the 2024B Time Requests module, there is an option to identify proposals which have synergies with James Webb Space Telescope science. The goal for providing this proposal category is to encourage development of science programs that benefit from a combination of Gemini and JWST observations.

Time for baseline partner calibrations is automatically added to the total time requested for each target in the PIT. Investigators should continue to include the time associated with overheads (acquisition time, readout time, etc). The ITC output gives overhead estimates. 'Alopeke and Zorro PIs should include program time for PSF standards if they need them. PIs with targets that can be observed from either Gemini North or South (e.g. equatorial targets to be observed with one of the GMOS instruments) can request time with both instruments, in that case the time with each instrument should be halved, and the Observatory will update the observation times when targets are scheduled.

Targets of opportunity proposals must include all instrument configurations which the team may want to use, at Phase 1. This enables automatic creation of templates, and avoids errors at Phase 2.

For more details, please refer to Gemini’s page at https://www.gemini.edu/observing.

Observable Targets in 2024A

Gemini North: 


Targets are generally limited to 17 < RA hours < 13.5 and -37 < Dec degrees < +90.

Gemini South:


Targets are generally limited to 16 < RA hours < 12 and -90° < dec < +28°. There are additional constraints as described in the target accessibility and instrument restrictions page of this Call for Proposals.
Instruments offered in 2024A

Gemini North:
Facility Instruments:

GNIRS (1-5 micron spectrometer): Available with or without AO capability. As before, the short red camera is NOT available. YJHK imaging is available via the acquisition keyhole. The GNIRS LR IFU will be available for science during semester 24B. In addition, the new GNIRS HR IFU will be available for shared-risk observations during semester 24B.

Visiting Instruments:

  • 'Alopeke: A dual-channel fast-readout visual-wavelength camera giving simultaneous diffraction-limited images in two filters over a 2.8 arcsec field of view; as well as a wide-field mode which provides simultaneous two-color imaging in standard SDSS filters over a 60" field of view. The scheduling and length of the 'Alopeke visiting block(s) will be subject to demand. Targets of Opportunity (Rapid or Standard) are accepted for 'Alopeke, but will only be executed during the instrument blocks.

  • MAROON-X: A high-resolution (R~80,000), optical (500 - 900nm) radial velocity (RV) spectrometer,  is open to the community for high precision RV studies as well as general purpose high-resolution spectroscopy. Available during specific blocks, subject to RA demand. Please use the MAROON-X Exposure Time Calculator to evaluate the instrument performance. It is now also possible to check for MAROON-X target duplication: please see the instructions in the Phase I checklist. 

  • TEXES: A high resolution (R ~ 4,000-100,000) mid-infrared (4.5-25 micron) spectrometer; available in semester 24B, subject to demand.

 

Gemini South:
Facility Instruments:

  • GSAOI (0.9-2.4 micron adaptive optics imager) with the GeMS Adaptive Optics system: Due to guide star limitations, investigators must check the availability of Guide Star constellations using the Observing Tool before submitting a proposal.  Observations in IQ85 are possible for programs that can use delivered images with full-width half-maximum of ~0.2 arcseconds as opposed to the ≤ 0.1 arcseconds delivered in IQ70 or IQ20 conditions. Observations under non-photometric conditions with 0.1 mag uniform extinction are also possible under very good IQ conditions.  The expectation is to have two or three laser runs of 7 nights each during the semester, the actual schedule will be based on the demand from the community.

  • GHOST: Available throughout the semester. Potential users should check for updates on the GHOST web pages for further details and status updates.

Visiting Instruments:

  • Zorro: A dual-channel fast-readout visual-wavelength camera giving simultaneous diffraction-limited images in two filters over a 2.8 arcsec field of view; as well as a wide-field mode which provides simultaneous two-color imaging in standard SDSS filters over a 60" field of view. The scheduling and length of the Zorro visiting block(s) will be subject to demand. Targets of Opportunity (Rapid or Standard) are accepted for Zorro, but will only be executed during the instrument blocks.

Subaru Exchange Time:

The exchange of time between the Gemini and Subaru communities will continue in 2024B; around 5 nights are expected to be available on Subaru for the Gemini community via the exchange program. A summary of the Subaru capabilities in 2024B is given below, PIs should also consult the Subaru Call for Proposals.

In addition, the Gemini community can propose shorter programs for Subaru's Service mode. PIs must indicate on the proposal whether regular or service time is requested. Service programs must be short programs of less than 4 hours duration including calibration and overheads, using one of IRCS, HDS, FOCAS or MOIRCS. Around 5 nights is expected to be available in this mode for the Gemini community. Prospective investigators must carefully review the Service Program web page. In particular, some additional, detailed technical information must be provided at the time of Phase-1 submission. Service proposals are reviewed by the National TACs together with the regular proposals.

Details:

  • Duplicate Subaru proposals submitted via other routes: If eligible PIs submit a proposal for Gemini Subaru exchange time and also submit the same proposal to a different TAC in parallel (e.g. researchers via the open use time offered in the Subaru Call, Gemini community PIs via the Gemini time-exchange program or Keck community PIs via the Keck time-exchange program), the proposers are asked to explicitly note the double submission in the proposal.

  • Proposal submission: Proposals for time on Subaru via the Gemini time-exchange program are submitted via the normal Gemini Phase I process.

  • HSC proposal length limits: For semester 24B, Gemini users can request no more than 3.5 nights (35 hours science time including overhead) in the case of HSC queue, and no more than 5.0 nights in the case of HSC classical requests. 

  • Instrument switches during the night: Switching between IRD, REACH, CHARIS, VAMPIRES, Fast PDI, and MEC during a single or half-night observation is possible. Please check the Subaru Call for Proposals for the time required for switching instruments.

  • Subaru telescope downtime: During semester 2024B, no telescope downtime is scheduled.

  • Subaru instrument and telescope restrictions:

    • The laser guide star (LGS) system for AO188 will be operated with TBAD (Transponder Based Aircraft Detector) with a shared-risk policy.

    • The near-infrared wavefront sensor (NIR WFS) of AO188 is open in shared risk mode, only for limited modes with IRCS and SCExAO/CHARIS. Please refer to the NIR WFS website and the IRCS webpage for more information. Users planning to submit a proposal must contact the NIR WFS PI and include him in the proposal as a Co-I.

The windscreen of the Subaru telescope is out of operation in 2024B, and thus tracking of targets may not be possible in high winds. It is recommended that PIs have targets across a range of RAs so that different azimuth angles are available.

 

Facility instruments offered in 2024B:

  • Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC - very wide field optical to far-red imager): There will be at most three (3) or four (4) HSC observing runs in the S24B semester, depending on the number of PFS commissioning runs as well as the timing of the facility maintenance works. Note that some filters require permission from the PI of the filters. All applicants must explicitly describe the filters they intend to use, in their proposal. The desired set as well as the minimum acceptable set should be clearly specified. Please check the HSC website for full details.

 

Visiting instruments offered in 2024B, are listed below. Proposals to use visiting instruments must include the instrument PIs as Co-investigators.

  • CHARIS: Coronagraphic High Angular Resolution Imaging Spectrograph - provides high contrast images of exoplanets, disks, brown dwarfs with SCExAO.

  • Fast PDI (in shared-risk mode): polarization differential imaging (PDI) with a high speed (>kHz) near-IR (950 - 1860 nm) low-noise camera (C-RED One), optimized for high contrast imaging of circumstellar disks with SCExAO+AO188. 

  • IRD - Infrared Doppler (in shared-risk mode): infrared high-dispersion, high resolution (up to 70,000) fiber-fed spectrometer. The IRD SSP (Subaru Strategic Program) was started in 2019A – any IRD proposal must clarify how its scientific aim is different from SSP. The observing mode REACH (SCExAO+IRD), is available (see below).

  • MEC (in shared-risk mode): the MKID Exoplanet Camera is a near-IR (800-1400nm) photon-counting low-resolution (R~5) integral field spectrograph optimized for high contrast imaging with SCExAO+AO188.

  • REACH: REACH can be used simultaneously with CHARIS with any dispersion modes, but the wavelength coverage of CHARIS will be from 1850 nm to the longest wavelengths (please see the CHARIS website for details).

  • VAMPIRES: The Visible Aperture Masking Polarimetric Imager for Resolved Exoplanetary Structures (VAMPIRES) is a visible light instrument on the SCExAO system. 

  • NsIR Wave Plate Unit: a visiting device for IRCS/SCExAO polarimetry mode.

  • NIR-WFS: Near Infrared Wavefront Sensor. Located inside the AO188 instead of the visible curvature wavefront sensor of AO188 for SCExAO and IRCS.

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