Gemini Observatory invites its community to propose scientific investigations for the 2020A semester, 1 February 2020 - 31 July 2020
The submission deadline varies with participant. Multi-participant joint proposals should be submitted by the deadline of the participant country to which the Principal Investigator is affiliated. The table below shows submission deadlines for (i) all Gemini Participants, (ii) the Subaru community under the Gemini/Subaru time exchange, and (iii) the French community under the GRACES collaboration. An overview of the Gemini proposal submission and time allocation process is given here.
Participant | Submission Deadline |
United States | September 30, 2019 at 23:59 (Mountain Standard Time) |
Canada | October 01, 2019 at 16:00 (Pacific Daylight Time) |
Brazil | October 01, 2019 at 23:59 (Brasília Time) |
Argentina | September 30, 2019 at 17:00 (Argentina Time) |
Korea | September 30, 2019 at 23:59 (Korea Standard Time) |
Chile | September 30, 2019 at 23:59 (Chile Time) |
U. of Hawaii | October 01, 2019 at 10:00 (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time) |
Subaru Community | September 30, 2019 at 23:59 (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time) |
French Community | N/A |
The Call is open to all participants and host institutions : Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Korea, the United States, Chile and the University of Hawaii. US time is open to all astronomers worldwide including those at non-US institutions, although in that case the proposal must explain why U.S. national facilities are needed. The distribution of time across the partners is available in the time distribution table.
Jump to:
- New and Notable in 2020A!
- Summary of 2020A Gemini Capabilities
- Important Dates for 2020A
- Phase I Submission Guidelines for 2020A
- Time Available in 2020A
- Subaru Exchange Time in 2020A
- Priority Visitor Observing Mode
- Other Proposal Opportunities in 2020A
- Remote Eavesdropping
- Data Rights, Proprietary periods and Data Distribution
- Supporting information to the Call for Proposals
New and Notable in 2020A!
The following capabilities and announcements are notable for the 2020A semester. Please see the relevant instrument pages and subsections of the call for proposals for details. General:
Instruments:
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Summary of 2020A Gemini Capabilities
Gemini North
Targets are generally limited to 4 < RA hours < 1 and -37 < DEC degrees < +90. In some cases there are additional constraints as described below and in the target accessibility and instrument restrictions page. The Gemini North Laser Guide Star (LGS) system is offered for regular programs in 2020A to be used with NIFS, NIRI and GNIRS. |
Facility instruments offered in 2020A, in queue or classical mode, are:
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Visiting instruments offered in 2020A (subject to demand) are:
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Gemini South
Targets are generally limited to 5 < RA hours < 2 and -90° < dec < +28°. In some cases there are additional constraints as described in the target accessibility and instrument restrictions page. |
Facility instruments offered in 2020A, in queue or classical mode, are:
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Visiting instruments offered in 2020A (subject to demand) are:
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Important Dates for 2020A
The deadline for Phase I submission varies with participant (see the submission deadline Table at the top of this CfP). For successful proposals, both queue and classical, the Phase II submission deadline is 17 of January 2020. Check the 2020A schedule for key dates and events in the proposal process .
Phase I Submission Guidelines for 2020A
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 a pdf attachment which includes the science and technical cases. See the PIT page for installation information and the PIT help pages for assistance. Investigators proposing for facility instruments are requested to include the output from the integration time calculators in the proposal. Investigators proposing for POLISH-2 visiting instrument must use the generic visiting instrument option in the PIT resource list, select Gemini North, and then enter POLISH-2 for the instrument name.
Note that, following the Board resolution 2016.A.2, the time for baseline partner calibrations for the Gemini facility instruments is automatically added to the total time requested for each target in the PIT. Investigators should continue to include the time associated to overheads (acquisition time, readout time, etc) in the total time estimated for each target in the PIT. The ITC output now gives overhead estimates. Alopeke and Zorro PI's should include program time for PSF standards if they need them. See the Observing Section in the PIT help pages for details.
Time Available in 2020A
The time available for each participant and host institution in 2020A is shown on the time distribution page. At Gemini North, 170 nights are expected to be available for science. At Gemini South, 169.5 nights are expected to be available for science.
Subaru Exchange Time
The exchange of time between the Gemini and Subaru communities will continue in 2020A. Gemini and Subaru expect to be able to exchange a minimum of 5 nights in semester 2020A. PIs from the Gemini community are encouraged to propose for observations on Subaru. Relevant information:
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Facility instruments offered in 2020A:
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Visiting instruments offered in 2020A (limited to one or two runs):
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Priority Visitor Observing Mode
In Priority Visitor Observing, a visiting observer comes to the Observatory for a block exceeding their program's time allocation, and elects when to carry out their program within that block. This may be when conditions are within their requirement, better than their requirement or even fail to meet their requirement. If time remains on the program after the observing time is complete, the program carries on in the regular queue with priority given by the TAC-assigned science ranking band. When not executing their own program the visiting observer will execute other Gemini queue observations. PV observing mode is offered as a possibility for band 1 queue programs in 2020A. Investigators wishing to have their program considered for PV observing should indicate their desire to participate in the Technical Design portion of their 2020A queue proposal.
Other Proposal Opportunities in 2020A
Other proposal opportunities are available at Gemini Observatory in 2020A. These include:
- The Fast Turnaround (FT) Program provides monthly opportunities to submit proposals, with successful programs scheduled for observation starting one month after each proposal deadline. Up to 10% of the time at Gemini North and Gemini South is available for the FT programs.
- Director's Discretionary Time is open to any astronomer worldwide and proposals can be submitted at any time.
- Poor Weather Proposals are solicited for programs that can use poor, but usable, conditions and are executed when nothing in the regular queue is observable. Proposals can be submitted via the normal TAC process (this call) or at any time.
- For Semester 2020A, the Gemini community is also eligible to propose HyperSuprimeCam (HSC) filler programs on Subaru. Filler programs are executed in poor observing conditions (typically seeing >1.5 arcseconds, and/or poor transparency), up to 35 hours can be requested by a filler proposal. Execution is not guaranteed: observations are made only when there is no other program in the HSC queue. In recent semesters, typically of order 15% of HSC time has gone to filler programs. Applications may be submitted once per semester, the next deadline for filler proposals is October 3rd, 2019 3:00 am (UT). Proposals must be sent through the Subaru submission system (NOT Gemini), and are considered only by the Subaru TAC. Note that only a short text summary of the program is required, not a full detailed Science Justification.
Remote Eavesdropping
Remote Eavesdropping will be available in 2020A for all queue programs. Investigators will be invited to sign up for eavesdropping via the PI email announcing they have been granted time.
Data Rights, Proprietary periods and Data Distribution
The data taken with the Gemini telescopes is the property of the Gemini Observatory. Principal investigators of Gemini regular programs (Queue/Classical/Poor Weather) have exclusive access to the data for their program for a period of 12 months. After the proprietary period the data are publicly available. See the page Data Rights and Proprietary Periods for more information.
All data, including raw and available processed data, obtained with the Gemini telescope are distributed exclusively through the Gemini Observatory Archive. More information about the data distribution is given here.
Supporting information to the Call for Proposals
Relevant general information related to the applications for time on Gemini Telescopes is presented in the supporting information page. Consult there for the following:
- Time Allocation Process (National and International Time Allocation Committees)
- Submitting for time on both telescopes
- Band 1 Persistence
- Electronic PIT Submission
- Joint Proposals
- Under-utilized Instruments
- Rapid Response or Target of Opportunity
- GMOS Mask definitions
- Poor Weather Programs
- Exchange Time
- Target information (guide stars, non-sidereal objects, time-specific observations)
- Duplicate Observations
Prospective users should also refer to the target and instrument accessibility page, and the instrument pages for detailed and up to date information on instrumentation.
Questions and Answers
All questions concerning proposals, or any other subject, should be made using the Gemini HelpDesk. This web-based system will send the request to your National Gemini Office staff in the first instance who will escalate it to Gemini staff if necessary.
Comments and suggestions on the format and content of this page and supporting pages are welcome, and should be sent to Marie Lemoine-Busserolle.