January 2015 Call for Proposals

Gemini North is now accepting proposals for the first cycle of the Fast Turnaround (FT) pilot program. Here, we give information specific to this proposal cycle. Please see the other FT pages - particularly the rules - for general information about the program.

1. Important dates
   • Proposal deadline: 23:59, Hawaiian Standard Time (HST), January 31
   • Reviews must be complete by 23:59 HST, February 14;
   • Results will be announced on February 21;
   • Observations must be ready by March 03 and will remain valid until the end of May;
   • Observations will be executed on scheduled Fast Turnaround nights as shown here.


2. Eligibility
   • PIs from all partners taking part in the FT program may apply for this cycle.
   • PIs from partner countries whose FT time for the semester has been used up should not apply for the remainder of the semester. Currently, no partners have reached their limit. See the rules and Q&A for more information.


3. Acceptable RA ranges
   • Targets from RA~06 hrs – 18 hrs can be accepted during this cycle.


4. Available instruments and observing modes
   • GMOS, GNIRS, and Altair (natural guide star mode) are expected to be available at all times
   • NIRI is scheduled for March and April, followed by NIFS in May
   • A very limited amount of LGS time is potentially available (two FT nights in March fall in a laser guide star run)
   • See the 2015A telescope schedule for details about instrument availability.
   • MOS observations are not available through the Fast Turnaround program. As discussed in the rules and Q&A, please contact the Fast Turnaround team in advance of the deadline if you would like to propose for an unusual instrument configuration or observing mode.


5. Time available
   • Assuming typical weather loss, we expect to have about 20 useable hours to allocate to FT programs during this cycle. Very roughly, this implies:
     • i. 4 hrs of 20%-ile conditions (IQ=20, for example; see this web page)
     • ii. 10 hrs of 50%-ile conditions
     • iii. 14 hrs of 70%-ile conditions
     • iv. 17 hrs of 85%-ile conditions
   • PIs may propose for up to roughly the amount of time in their most restrictive observing conditions (see the rules).
   • While very good conditions can be requested, please note that FT observations will be executed in a “mini-queue” on dedicated nights with no compensation for weather losses.


6. PIT version
   • Proposals must be submitted using the version of the Phase I Tool specified on this web page (in the "Time Requests" tab, select Fast Turnaround Observing at Gemini as the proposal class). Please use the GemPhase1.tex/doc template to prepare the pdf required by the PIT, following the page limits specified in that file.