Semester 2023A Time Distribution

Overview

Time available on each of Gemini North and South is distributed according to the Observatory participants' shares. Engineering time is reserved each semester; this includes engineering time in the queue, instrument performance monitoring, engineering time to accommodate visiting instrumentation, and instrument commissioning. Any unused engineering time is returned to science. The science time includes time used for all observing modes, including standard semester programs (this call), limited-term partner (LTP) programs, Large and Long programs, Fast Turnaround programs, and Director's Discretionary time. The estimated time available for each participant and host institution is shown below.

Gemini North 2023A

9.4 nights (5.2%) are reserved for on-sky engineering in queue, this includes: 2 nights for vibrations tests , 7 nights for maintenance, and 0.4 nights for on-sky testing of the new Observatory software system, the Gemini Program Platform.
171.6 nights have been made available for science, which amounts to 94.8% of the total time available.
The science time in 2023A also includes:
- 7.6 nights for DD time,
- 16.7 nights for the host institution (Univ. of Hawaii),
- 0.2 nights for Limited Term Partners (Ben-Gurion University),
- 3.4 nights for the CFHT community, in exchange for use of GRACES, which is distributed as an additional 1.5 queue nights for Canada, an additional 1.0 queue night for UH, and 0.9 nights for French PIs,
- 3.8 nights for the MAROON-X instrument team, in exchange for community use of MAROON-X.
The Table below shows the distribution of the time available per participant.

Participant	Estimated Science Time Available (hours)	Time Reserved for Fast Turnaround programs (hours) [A]	Time Reserved for Large and Long Programs (hours) [B]	Estimated Time Available for this Call (hours) [C]
US	934.8	99.6	146.2	689.0
Canada	263.7	26.3	38.5	198.9
Argentina	28.0	2.4	0	25.6
Brazil	89.4	9.4	0	80.0
Korea	96.4	6.1	0	90.3
Univ. of Hawaii (host)	175.3	8.2	0	167.1

[A] - Up to 10% of the available time is contributed by all participants and the host institution (University of Hawaii) to the Fast Turnaround program.
[B] - Up to 20% of the available time is contributed by the United States, and Canada, to Large and Long Programs.
[C] - As this time also includes weather loss and time lost to faults, approximately 80% of this time is allocated to programs during the ITAC process, distributed across Bands 1, 2 and 3.

Gemini South 2023A

28.4 nights (15.7%) are reserved for engineering, this includes: 21 nights of shutdown to recoat the primary mirror, 7 nights on-sky in queue for maintenance, and 0.4 nights for on-sky testing of the new Observatory software system, the Gemini Program Platform.
152.6 nights have been made available for science, which amounts to 84.3% of the total time available.
The science time also includes:
- 6.1 nights for DD time,
- 13.2 nights for host institution (Chile),
- 0.2 nights for Limited Term Partners (Ben-Gurion University),
- 2.4 nights for the CFHT community, in exchange for use of GRACES, which is distributed as an additional 1.5 queue nights for Canada, and 0.9 nights for French PIs,
- 9.4 nights for the IGRINS team, for use of guaranteed time in exchange for IGRINS,
- 1.4 nights for the FLAMINGOS-2 team,
- 6.5 nights for the GHOST team,
The Table below shows the distribution of the time available per participant.

Participant	Estimated Science Time Available (hours)	Time Reserved for Fast Turnaround programs (hours) [A]	Time Reserved for Large and Long Programs (hours) [B]	Estimated Time Available for this Call (hours) [C]
US	757.5	80.0	121.7	555.8
Canada	214.5	21.1	32.1	161.3
Argentina	22.4	1.9	0	20.5
Brazil	71.8	5.3	0	66.5
Korea	77.4	4.9	0	72.5
Chile (host)	132.4	0	0	132.4

[A] - Up to 10% of the available time is contributed by all participants, not including the host institution (Chile), to the Fast Turnaround program.
[B] - Up to 20% of the available time is contributed by the United States, and Canada, to Large and Long Programs.
[C] - As this time also includes weather loss and time lost to faults, approximately 80% of this time is allocated to programs during the ITAC process, distributed across Bands 1, 2 and 3.