Call for Proposals
The most recent Call for Proposals from Gemini is for the
semester 2012B.
This semester spans the dates August 1st 2012 to DECEMBER
31st 2012. Note the early end of the semester due to the UK's
withdrawl from the Gemini telescope.
The UK deadline for submission is FRIDAY MARCH 30TH
2012 at 3PM GMT.
In addition to the Gemini Call for Proposal, you MUST read
the information below as it lists the UK specific
limitations and requirements for the current Call for
Proposals. This semester there are additional limitations
due to the early end to the semester for UK programs.
Semester Specific Information
UK Time Allocation
For semester 2012B, the UK has been awarded 249 hours on
Gemini North and 175 hours on Gemini South.
The UK oversubscription for semester 2011B was 4.4
for Gemini North and 2.1 for Gemini South.
ITC output by email
To speed up and improve the technical assessment process,
all proposers are requested to submit PDF files of their
Integration Time Calculator input and output via email. Send
all input and output (as listed on the output page) to the
address ukgemini AT physics.ox.ac.uk
with the subject "ITC results for proposal XXX" replacing
XXX with your proposal submission number.
NEW for 2012B
2012B PIT
There is an entirely new Phase 1 Tool (PIT) for semester
2012B that must be used for all applications. Most notably, a
single proposal can now request time from both Gemini North
and South so a proposal with the same science goal at both
telescopes only need make one application, rather than the two
that have previously been required.
The new PIT can be downloaded from this link: 2012B PIT.
2012B limited RA ranges
Due to the withdrawl of the UK from Gemini, the UK has
only been allocated time up to December 31st 2012. As such,
the RA ranges accessible to UK programs is more limited than
that reported on the Gemini websites. The RA range accessible
to UK proposals is:
| Accessible | Restricted | Innaccessible |
North | non-LGS | 19h - 9h | 17h - 19h |
9h - 11h | 11h - 17h |
| LGS | 20h - 8h | 18h - 20h |
8h - 9h | 9h - 18h |
South | | 19h - 8h | 16h -
19h | 8h - 9.5h | 9.5h - 16h |
e2V CCDs on GMOS-N
GMOS-N has the new e2V deep depletion CCDs. This has been
accounted for in the ITC so be sure to update all exposure
times accordingly for repeat submissions.
Exchange time
In semester 2012B there will be no Gemini-Keck exchange time.
There will be 4-8 classical nights available for
Gemini-Subaru exchange time in 2012B. Due to the cooling system incident and commissioning of
Hyper Suprime Cam, there will be limited availability for some
instruments and significant downtime on Subaru.
New time allocation procedure
Starting in semester 2011B, Gemini implemented a
slightly altered set of observing conditions and method of
queue filling the aim of this is to produce more efficient
allocation of telescope time, and result in fewer
disappointed band 3 PIs.
From here on, only 80% of partners queue time will be
allocated to band 1-3 programs; the remainder of the time
will be for band 4 or poor weather programs. A new catagory
of CC80 has been introduced, which corresponds to one
magnitude of extinction, or 40% transparency. The PIT, OT,
and other software will be updated to include this
category.
Thus, if a partner's allocation in 11B is for example 100
hours, and 10 hours are assigned to classical programs, then
72 hours will be filled by band 1-3 programs at ITAC. The
band boundaries will still be drawn at 30% of the initial
full allocation, nominally 27 hours in bands 1 and 2, and 18
hours in band 3.
Requirements for UK Proposals
Due to the lack of a UK template for the new PIT, the UK
Gemini office will accept proposals adhering to the new
general PIT guidelines (recommended, especially for joint
proposals), but will still accept those using the old UK
specific content guidelines outlined below:
Joint proposals should follow the length and format rules
of the Principal Investigator's partner country. The other
partner countries will not penalise joint proposals if this
format does not exactly conform to their rules.
- Number of collaborators - a maximum of 12 collaborators.
- Title - a maximum of 12 words.
- Summary - a maximum of 200 words.
- Scientific Justification - a maximum of 1000 words.
- Technical Information - a maximum of 1000 words.
- Band 3 Consideration Text - a maximum of 500 words.
- Figures - one page, see below.
- Publications from PATT time over last 4 semesters - a maximum of 12 publications.
ALL figures must fit on one page when the proposal is
saved as a PDF file using the UK NGO style sheet. Figures
can be in any of several formats including PDF (preferred)
GIF, JPG, RTF, TEXT. Postscript attachments are not
accepted. There is no control over how the PIT places your
figures when it saves as pdf. If it does not place all your
figures on one page, then you should use another program to
produce a single page pdf containing all the figures, and
attach this in the PIT.
Further Considerations
Classical programs
Please note the minimum request for classical programs is
1 night. Classical programs must specify the observing
conditions that they require to complete their science
goals. If good observing conditions are required (better
than IQ=85% and CC=70%, or WV=80%) then PIs must also
specify a back-up program requiring worse observing
conditions than the main program (or indicate that no
back-up program is available). The details of the back-up
program should be provided in a one page attachment. If the
observing conditions at the telescope are worse than
required by either the main or the back-up program then the
telescope will revert to queue observing. In this case the
classical program will not be re-scheduled.
Band 3 tab
PIs who would like their program to be considered for Band
3 (as well as Bands 1 and 2) must fill out the Band 3
tab. This allows the PI to specify a worse set of observing
conditions, a minimum useful science time and some Band 3
specific considerations. More advice about Band 3 programs
is available.
The minimum science time is the time required in Band 3 to
produce a scientifically useful dataset. The Band 3
Consideration Text should briefly outline the Band 3
strategy. For example a PI with a large sample of objects
requiring good observing conditions, may decide in Band 3 to
observe fewer objects in worse IQ conditions, and that
observations of a particular one of these objects would be
scientifically useful. In this case the text should briefly
describe the science returns from the smaller sample and
from the one particular object and the minimum useful time
should be the time to observe the one object. In some cases
all observations may be required for useful science, in
which case the minimum useful time is the same as the total
time.
The TAC ranks all the programs, and then, for those that
are in Band 3, considers whether they are likely to get
observed. The information in the Band 3 tab will help the
TAC make this decision, and also allow any changes for Band
3 to be scientifically and technically assessed.
Proposals for multiple telescopes
It is not possible to propose more than one telescope per
proposal, i.e only one of GN, GS, Subaru, Keck can be quoted
in a single proposal (the PIT now only permits one telescope
to be selected per proposal). Proposers wishing to use
multiple-telescopes for the same science program are
requested to submit copies of the proposal, one for each of
the different telescopes required.
PIT - Save as PDF - UK style sheet
PIT allows you to save your proposal as a PDF file, using
the buttons on the Summary page. There is now a style sheet
for UK proposals, called "UK NGO", that has smaller margins
than the default style sheet. Proposals will be circulated
to the UK TAC as PDF files created using this style
sheet. In particular, proposers should make sure that all
their figures fit onto one page (see the Requirements for UK
Proposals above for more details).
PIT sections for previous awards
Please fill in the sections in the PIT describing the
status of previously awarded Gemini data (reduced, analysed,
published), and listing the related proposals submitted to
other telescopes.
Check for duplications
Please use the PIT button under the Observations tab to
query the Gemini Science Archive for duplicate
observations.
Minimum time request
Proposers are advised to set and justify a realistic
minimum total time. This is useful for two reasons:
- If your proposal is ranked on the borderline, there
may not be enough time left to give you your full
request. Your minimum time justification will help the
TAC decide whether it is scientifically useful to give
you less than your requested time.
- If your proposal is joint with other partners, but
only the UK ranks it highly, it will help the UK ITAC
member decide whether your proposal is scientifically
useful with just the UK time.
Note that the UK NTAC does not normally allocate less than
the requested time for Band 1 or Band 2 programs.