Semester 2010A Instruments
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Semester 2010A Instruments |
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Instruments Available for Semester 2010A
For detailed information about the instruments, please check the Instruments Home Page
Keck 1 Instruments are:
HIRESb (blue x-disperser)
HIRESr (red x-disperser)
NIRC (see below)
NIRCs (speckle) (see below)
LRIS-ADC (red and blue, with ADC)
LRISp-ADC (polarimeter, with ADC; see below.)
LRIS (red and blue, without ADC, special request only)
LRISp (polarimeter, without ADC, special request only)
MICHELLE & NIRI at Gemini North and T-ReCS at Gemini South (see below)
Suprime-Cam, FOCAS, HDS, MOIRCS, IRSC (with NGSAO with 188 elements), and COMICS at Subaru (see below)
Keck 2 Instruments are:
DEIMOS
ESI
NIRSPEC (without AO)
NIRSPAO-NGS (NIRSPEC with Natural Guide Star AO; see below.)
NIRSPAO-LGS (NIRSPEC with Laser Guide Star AO; see below.)
NIRC2-NGS
(not available during February)
NIRC2-LGS (see LGS note below)(not available during February)
OSIRIS-NGS
OSIRIS-LGS (see LGS note below)
Suprime-Cam, FOCAS, HDS, MOIRCS, IRSC (with NGSAO with 188 elements), and COMICS at Subaru (see below)
Combined Keck 1 and Keck 2 Interferometer: Visibility science, Nuller science plus other shared-risk modes.
Please note that Keck I and Keck II have different eastern and western telescope limits. This affects the times that objects will be available for observing.
Visitor Instruments: WMKO will not support any visitor instruments during semester 2010A.
Keck I
LRIS:
The LRISr (red side) detector has been upgraded. Observers should see improved red-side sensitivity at the longer wavelengths with the upgraded detector. See LRIS Red Upgrade Observer Notes for details.
Observers who use LRISp should review the ADC-polarimeter instrument technical note KITN0010 LRIS: Polarimetry Comparison with and without the ADC to assess the impact of the ADC on polarimetry data. In most circumstances, it is beneficial to use the ADC with LRISp (higher throughput) and therefore this observing mode is the default for polarimetry.
Observers wishing to use LRIS or LRISp without the ADC must provide scientific justification in the special requests section of the coversheet.
NIRC and NIRCs (NIRC speckle): The venerable NIRC is being retired at the end of semester 2009B to create a storage slot on the Nasmyth deck for MOSFIRE. NIRC will be decommissioned and no longer available.
MICHELLE and NIRI at Gemini North, T-ReCS at Gemini South: MICHELLE is a mid-infrared (8-25 micron) imager and spectrometer at GEMINI North. T-ReCS is a similar instrument at Gemini South. NIRI is a Near InfraRed Imager and low resolution spectrograph at Gemini North. Through an exchange with the GEMINI Observatory, up to five nights may be available to observers who would like to use MICHELLE, NIRI, or T-ReCS. Scheduled nights will be executed classically with the support of GEMINI US (tier-1). T-ReCS will not be available in February and March. Exact dates of availability during the rest of 2010A will depend on community demand. MICHELLE is expected to be available the first two weeks of February and in July, also depending on community demand. NIRI will be available for the full semester. Please watch the Gemini web site for further details and updates on instrument availability for all three instruments.
Keck II
NIRC2: NIRC2 will not be available during February as it will be undergoing a service mission then.
ESI: Because of limited requests for ESI during recent semesters, we may restrict ESI to campaign mode (possibly two or three blocks of nights) during semester 2010A. This will depend on scientific requests. Observers should be prepared for their allocations to possibly be a month earlier or later than the requested dates.
NIRSPAO: NIRSPEC may be available in the AO mode (NIRSPAO) for a maximum of one run during semester 2010A, depending upon science demand. We will need a minimum of three allocated nights for the AO mode before we will offer this capability. Timing of the NIRSPAO run will depend upon the science demand. On all NIRSPAO nights (except February 2010), NIRC2 is also available for use. Please note that for NIRSPAO-LGS, backup programs are required. Backup programs may use NIRC2 or NIRSPAO in NGS mode. NIRSPEC without AO is not available when NIRSPEC is in the AO configuration.
OSIRIS: OSIRIS will move from Keck II to Keck I when the Keck I laser is ready. According to the current plan, this is scheduled for August 2010 (semester 2010B). OSIRIS will be unavailable for three months during the move. More information will be provided when available, and as the schedule firms up. However, observers needing OSIRIS early in 2010B might consider applying for time late in 2010A instead.
Suprime-Cam, FOCAS, HDS, MOIRCS, IRSC (with NGSAO with 188 elements), and COMICS at Subaru: Through an exchange with the Subaru Observatory, up to six nights may be available to observers who would like to use any of these instruments. Please note the extended suite of instruments being offered by Subaru for the exchange this semester. Please check the Subaru web site for detailed descriptions of these instruments. As Subaru time will be traded for time on both telescopes, TACs will need to determine which telescope's time they will be trading when awarding Subaru time. The time will be up to four nights on Keck II and up to two nights on Keck I depending both on the Keck and the Subaru requests. Neither Keck nor Subaru will support Target of Opportunity (ToO) observations during the exchanged nights. All observations will be executed in the "classical" observing mode.
LGS-AO: NIRC2, OSIRIS, or NIRSPAO with laser guide star adaptive optics will be available. Up to 70 nights may be awarded as laser guide star nights during this semester. A more detailed set of guidelines for these nights and information on the capabilities of the system may be found on the the LGS-AO page. Backup programs for LGS proposals are essential. Backup programs for LGS may be either NGS programs or non-AO (seeing limited) NIRSPEC.
Combined Keck I and Keck II
Interferometer: For 2010A up to six nights will be available to the community for visibility science and/or nuller science with the Keck Interferometer (KI). More nights will be considered at the Director's discretion. Please see the NExScI web site for important details concerning planning for interferometer observations and for sensitivity and efficiency information. The nuller is fully available for science proposals in semester 2010A but future availability will be determined on a semeter-by-semester basis. We offer increased wavelength coverage (L-band) and higher spectral resolution ("SPR," with R ~ 1800) for shared-risk proposals in this call. The backup for the L-band and SPR modes is the standard V^2 mode. SPR and L-band instruments will not be available for split-night science on the same night. The NExScI Keck Interferometer Reconfiguration Page details which modes may be used in the same night along with the reconfiguration time between modes. All science observations with the Keck Interferometer are taken in service observing mode and may be scheduled in campaign mode.
KOA (Keck Observatory Archive): Beginning with semester 2010A, data from NIRSPEC (including NIRSPAO) will be archived into the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA). Data from HIRES will continue to also be archived in KOA. The default proprietary period for all data is 18 months. If observers desire a different proprietary period they may request this through the Keck coversheet. Please see the KOA homepage for information on the HIRES archive. Please see the KOA proprietary period policy for HIRES for more information. We anticipate a similar policy will shortly be in place for the NIRSPEC data.
For detailed information about the instruments, please check the Instruments Home Page
This page last updated 10-Aug-09. bas.