Access to Visitor Instruments

Read more about NOIRLab's instruments and other capabilities in the Capabilities brochure.

(updated 22 May 2021)

NOTE: proposers interested in using Visitor Instruments on SOAR should coordinate with the instrument PI before submitting a proposal.

HRCam

HRCam is an instrument developed by Andrei Tokovinin (NOIRLab/CTIO) that can be used for speckle interferometry. It can be used with or without operating the adaptive optics system. The second mode is preferred for bright targets as overheads are lower, the first for fainter targets.
Support for the instrument is provided by Andrei Tokovinin, who will assist both with the actual observations and with data reduction – proposers should expect to get fully reduced data shortly after the run ends.
In order to propose for the instrument, you must contact Andrei Tokovinin (firstname.lastname at noirlab.edu) before proposing, and he should be included as a co-investigator on the proposal and a co-author on resulting papers. There are currently no constraints on the number of nights that can be allocated, but scheduling needs to take into account Andrei’s other commitments. Proposals are submitted through standard partner TAC processes after coordinating with Andrei.
For NOIRLab proposers, the instrument should be specified as “HRCAM” if you are proposing to work without adaptive optics activated, and as “SAMHR” if you are proposing to work with the adaptive optics. Note that in the latter case, all the constraints associated with laser use apply (early submission of target lists for clearance, etc.).