Caltech Optical Observatories

Call for Proposals - 2010A

This Call is CLOSED

Proposals Were Due Monday 05 October 2009

This Material Provided For Reference Only

• Keck I & Keck II, with possible trades with GEMINI and SUBARU.
• Palomar 200-inch.
• Palomar 60-inch (service observing only).
• Palomar Oschin Telescope (service observing only).

Eligibility:

• Caltech Faculty, Senior Research Associates, Senior Research Fellows, Post-Doctoral Scholars, Senior Research Staff, Graduate Students.
• Applicants must be in residence at Caltech at the time proposals are submitted.
• Faculty and Senior Research Associates are not limited in the number of Keck and/or Palomar proposals submitted.
• Senior Research Fellows, Post-Doctoral Scholars and Senior Research Staff are not limited in the number of Palomar proposals submitted but are limited to one Keck proposal per semester.
• Graduate Students may apply for Palomar time only.

Proposal Format:

• Each proposal should cover a single, coherent, well-defined scientific topic
• Proposals consist of three parts: Cover sheet, Discussion, Observing List.
• Cover sheet - Keck - Follow the procedures at www.keckobservatory.org/observing.php Applying for Keck Telescope Time. Keck is using an on-line system that features a password system to allow observers to retrieve and modify their cover sheets. If you are a returning observer, use the same account information as in previous semesters. If you are a new observer, request an account by following the instructions on the log-in page. With this system, you will be able to
• load cover sheets from previous years;
• see and modify your personal profile in the Keck database;
• view your upcoming Keck observing time and support team
• Keck will send announcements and account information to all observers with e-mail addresses within the Keck database; new observers or those who do not receive account information may request an account from the cover sheet page.
• Discussion - A short description of the project, explaining the scientific goals and methodology, and justifying the time and equipment requested. For new projects, provide an estimate of the total time required to complete the work; for continuing projects, give the status of previously obtained data and an estimate of the time needed to finish. For projects in support of an approved thesis, include an estimate of the total observing time required, the time already allocated and the status of the data already in hand. Explain any constraints that may affect scheduling. The TAC requires a maximum of two sides of 11 or 12-pt, single-spaced text with appropriate margins, and up to 2 sides of diagrams, tables and references. Copies of proposals sent to the TAC will be reproduced in black & white format only.
• Observing List - Provide a list of targets to be observed, including names, coordinates, magnitudes (and band).
• When finished, combine your cover sheet, the discussion and observing list into a single .pdf document (see note below) and attach it to an e-mail to brucato@astro.caltech.edu (not later than 5:00 p.m., Monday, October 5, 2009). The subject line of the message should be in the following form: [your last name]-Keck-[Your priority for this project compared to others you are submitting for the same telescope] Example: Jones-Keck-2

• Cover sheet - Palomar - Fill in the on-line cover sheet at www.astro.caltech.edu/~tac/obsforms/PalCov10A.html Palomar Cover Sheet. When finished, combine your cover sheet, the discussion and observing list into a single .pdf document (see note below) and attach it to an e-mail to brucato@astro.caltech.edu (not later than 5:00 p.m., Monday, October 5, 2009). The subject line of the message should be in the following form: [your last name]-[Telescope]-[Your priority for this project compared to others you are submitting for the same telescope]. Example: Jones-P200-2
• Observers using the 200-inch telescope may request instruments to be installed simultaneously at the prime focus, Cassegrain focus and/or the east-arm focus (East Arm Echelle only). On the Cover Sheet, select the principal instrument to be used from the drop-down lists on the Observing Time Preferences table and specify the secondary instrument(s) in the space provided under Additional Information. Secondary instruments should be requested only if they are integral to the program and if there is a very high probability that they will be used during the observing run. The use of a secondary instrument must be fully justified in the proposal discussion.
• The Laser Guide Star system (LGS) at the 200-inch Telescope will not be available for observing in 2010A.
• Discussion - A short description of the project, explaining the scientific goals and methodology, and justifying the time and equipment requested. For new projects, provide an estimate of the total time required to complete the work; for continuing projects, give the status of previously obtained data and an estimate of the time needed to finish. For projects in support of an approved thesis, include an estimate of the total observing time required, the time already allocated and the status of the data already in hand. Explain any constraints that may affect scheduling. The TAC requires a maximum of two sides of 11 or 12-pt, single-spaced text with appropriate margins, and up to 2 sides of diagrams, tables and references. Copies of proposals sent to the TAC will be reproduced in black & white format only.
• Observing List - Provide a list of targets to be observed, including names, coordinates, magnitudes (and band).
• Special Notes:
• Request full nights only. The Caltech TAC will not allocate partial nights.
• Only one cover sheet is needed for a project involving both Keck I and Keck II.
• For projects involving both Keck and Palomar, submit the Keck and Palomar cover sheets separately. The discussion and observing list may be attached only to the Keck cover sheet.
• For projects involving more than one Palomar telescope, submit cover sheets for each separately. The discussion and observing list may be attached only to the cover sheet for the larger telescope.
• For Keck instrument availability in 2010A (including those availble by trade at GEMINI and SUBARU), go to www2.keck.hawaii.edu/observing/instavail.html Keck Instrument Availability.

Observing History & Bibliography:

Submit a single, two-part document consisting of:

• Observing History: List the observing time allocated to you for all projects in the last four semesters and summarize the status of each.
• Bibliography - Provide a bibliography of your refereed papers based on Keck (or from observing time awarded through Keck trades) and/or Palomar data, published or submitted for publication during the last two years.

Attach the report (as a pdf document) to an e-mail to brucato@astro.caltech.edu (not later than 5:00 p.m., Monday October 5, 2009) with the subject line in the following form: [your last name]-History. (For example: Jones-History)

Special Observing:

• Target of Opportunity Observing - See www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/200inch/ToO.html ToO Policy.
• Large Projects - See www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/200inch/LargeProj. html Large Project Proposals.
• Palomar 60-inch Telescope - Up to 20% of the time at the 60-inch may be allocated to Caltech observers for general research. Service observing only.
• Oschin Telescope - Up to 20% of the time at the Oschin Telescope (with the MOSAIC camera) may be allocated to Caltech observers for general research. Service observing only.

200-inch Telescope - Instruments:

Focus	Instrument	Code	Notes
Prime Focus
	Wide-Field IR Camera	WIRC	Specifications
	Large Format Camera	LFC	Specifications
	COSMIC - Direct Imaging	COSMIC/D	Specifications
	COSMIC - Re-imaging	COSMIC/R	Specifications
	Own Equipment - Prime Focus	OE-PF	Describe in Discussion
Cassegrain
	Double Spectrograph	DBSP	Specifications
	Double Spectrograph/Polarimeter	DBSPp	Specifications
	PHARO	PHARO-NGS	Specifications
	SWIFT	SWIFT-NGS	Specifications
	P1640	P1640-NGS	Private Instrument (Hillenbrand)
	TripleSpec	TripleSpec	Specifications
	TripleSpec+TEDI	TripleSpec+TEDI	Private Instrument (Lloyd) Specifications
	SpectroCam 10	SC-10	Specifications
	Cosmic Web Imager	CWI	Semi-private Instrument (Martin)
	f/9 Camera	f/9 Cam	Specifications
	STEPS	STEPS	Private Instrument. Restrictions apply. (Shaklan)
	Integral Field Spectrograph	PIFS	Private Instrument. Restrictions apply. (Matthews) No secondary instrument at Prime Focus. Specifications
	IR Camera	IR Cam	Private Instrument. Restrictions apply. (Matthews) No secondary instrument at Prime Focus. Specifications
	IR Spectrograph	IR Spect	Private Instrument. Restrictions apply. (Matthews) No secondary instrument at Prime Focus.
	Own Equipment - Cassegrain	OE-Cass	Describe in Discussion
East Arm	Echelle	EAE	Specifications

Private and Semi-private instruments may be requested only with the prior approval of the instrument builder.

Note on Merging PDF Documents:

To combine the cover sheet and discussion section of a proposal, use the full version of Acrobat (Acrobat Reader will not work) or the joinpdf program on the AY Unix computers. Also see www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/mergepdf.html.

18 August 2009 - RJB