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Proposals & Updates for Time on Optical/IR Telescopes
FORMS
Time on all Optical/IR UAO telescopes is allocated in two semesters: February-July (A) and August-January (B). Proposal deadlines are now October 1 and April 1, or a nearby date if the time falls on a weekend: See the call for proposals email. Late proposals will not be considered.
INSTRUCTIONS
We have moved to an electronic-only proposal submission process. Submit electronically (both the filled in tex form and the processed pdf version) at http://pangu.as.arizona.edu (password available in email proposal announcement or from TAC Chair). Unless you receive special permission from the TAC Chair, the proposals must be submitted by the deadline.
Make sure to download the current proposal template file (v1.34) soprop.tex and class file soprop.cls, which are required to produce the pdf file that is uploaded by the electronic submission form. Your proposal will not be processed by the automated account if you use an outdated version of the template files.
NEWS & UPDATES ABOUT TELESCOPES AND INSTRUMENTS
LBT: Proposers need to also submit Phase I Tool (PIT) forms which can be accessed through https://sites.google.com/a/
MagAO: MagAO will be offered in 2019A during a single ~9-night run, probably in the first half of the semester. Contact Dr. Laird Close for details.
BINOSPEC: Is available at the MMT.
MAESTRO: The MMT Advanced Echelle Spectrograph will not be supported this semester. The MMT Council would like to hear from interested users who should contact both the MMT Director and Dr. Don McCarthy (Council Head).
MMT AO/ARIES: The adaptive optics system (f/15 secondary) on the MMT has begun significant renovation and will be unavailable for an estimated 18 months. Improvements to the system will include new software and AO-secondary hardware, as well as a re-aluminized secondary mirror, and upgrades to the ARIES instrument (PIs: Drs. Don McCarthy and Craig Kulesa).
MAGELLAN: Limited remote observing MIGHT become possible in 2019A. Observers should comment in the experimental design section if they think this is possible for their project.
M2FS: proposals for Magellan require agreement from PI (Dr. Mario Mateo, UMichigan) and require adhering to specific guidelines. Proposers should contact him before September 15. Observers with ongoing M2FS projects should (a) remind Mario that this project has been approved by M2FS team in the past, (b) ask if it's still encouraged, and (c) provide an estimate for number of nights. The Steward contact is Dr. Edward Olszewski. M2FS is a pair of fiber fed spectrographs (on Clay) that can operate at high resolution (echelle), medium resolution (echellette), or low resolution (regular grating) in many possible configurations (for instance, echelle in one spectrograph and low-res grating in the other). New configurations are possible with the purchase of relatively-inexpensive order-blocking filters.
WIFIS (Wide Integral-Field Infrared Spectrograph): Is available on the 2.3m Bok telescope. There are two ways to propose. First (and recommended) are joint proposals with the WIFIS team (Dae-Sik Moon and Suresh Sivanandam). Second, the team has agreed to support a limited number of independent programs (proposers should consult with them on technical details) as long as enough nights of joint programs are scheduled (5 nights). Information about the WIFIS instrument is available in this published paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.03512. Contact Dr. Suresh Sivanandam for details.
SPOL: Through Steward Observatory's partnership with KASI, a new lens that has very good transmission of light down to the near-UV atmospheric cutoff at about 3200 Angstroms is now available for use in SPOL. Previously, polarimetry at wavelengths to the blue of about 4000 Angstroms had been impossible. Science programs not needing measurements of polarization at wavelengths <4500 Angstroms should still utilize the old "red" lens because of its superior throughput in the red and the fact that it is able to reach an acceptable focus over a broader wavelength range than the new "blue" lens. In addition, a new, larger aperture for imaging polarimetry has been installed in SPOL. The new aperture measures 100" x 60" at the 90" and 61" telescopes and 37" x 22" at the MMT.
Arizona Robotic Telescope Network (ARTN): An automated, robotic operation is becoming available at the 61" Kuiper telescope to enable new opportunities in both traditional and time domain observations. A “shared-risk” opportunity is available for science programs using the Mont4k CCD imager in queue mode. Interested parties should contact Dr. David Sand. Please be prepared to discuss the types of observations you may want in terms of cadence, exposure time, observational strategy and total time request. Someone from the proposing team must be able to go to the 61" for the same number of nights as would be requested under a classical observing proposal, although s/he will oversee queue observations that will not necessarily be their own. Observers operating the queue must be 61" certified, as their main job will be to ensure the safety of the telescope, fill the dewar, keep an eye on incoming data quality, and to perform lightning shutdowns if necessary.
Proposals for Time on ARO Telescopes
The Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) is at present soliciting proposals for the 10-meter Submillimeter Telescope (SMT) located on Mount Graham, Arizona, and the new ALMA Prototype 12-meter Telescope (12m) located on Kitt Peak, Arizona, as specified in the Call for Proposals.
Proposers should consult the ARO website for technical specifications and to download the updated Proposal Summary Sheet. Proposers are required to list on the summary sheet their requested observing blocks (LST ranges), dates on which they are not available to observe, and dates in which sources in those observing blocks are within the Sun-avoidance zone (44 degrees at the SMT). Proposal candidates are also encouraged to submit up to two pages of scientific justification (including figures) with their Proposal Summary Sheet.
Proposals should be emailed to aroproposals@as.arizona.edu as specified in the Call for Proposals.
Proposals will be reviewed by the ARO TAC. Scheduling of successful proposals will be done according to availability of the receivers requested. Electronic submissions will be accepted in PDF format.
The telescopes are expected to be available to the general astronomical community for a minimum of 10 percent of the scheduled time. Graduate student participation is especially encouraged regardless of institutional affiliation. Institutions (or individuals) that wish to acquire longer commitments of time should contact the Steward Director.
