Each user community, University of California, Caltech, NASA, University of Hawaii, NOAO, Subaru, Yale, and the Australian National Observatory has its own internal requirements regarding deadlines for submittal of
proposals and information required to apply for time on the Keck telescopes.
However, regardless of the institution to which the user applies, (s)he
should complete the WMKO Proposal
Cover Sheet Form and submit it, along with the individual institution
request forms, to the appropriate TAC. This form is used, once a given
proposal has been allotted time by its TAC, to concatenate the approved
time assignments into the master schedule. Observers will be notified
by the appropriate TAC of the fate of their proposal and by WMKO for telescope time assignments
if the proposal was accepted. Telescope schedules will be posted on the W.M. Keck Observatory web pages approximately two months before the beginning of the semester.
Caltech Qualified Caltech applicants for Caltech time on the W. M. Keck Observatory may also contact the COO/Palomar Office in Pasadena for further information.
Swinburne University and Yale access time on the Keck Telescopes through cooperative agreements with CIT.
University of Hawaii
This link gives access to a tar file containing the proposal application
forms. Proposals submitted to the University of Hawaii must have a principal
investigator affiliated with the University of Hawaii.
NOAO Observing time on the Keck telescopes through NOAO and the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP) will again be available for semester 2013B.
Subaru and Keck will continue their exchange of several nights as in past semesters with the number of exchange nights being derermined by the demand of both institutions. Subaru observers may apply for DEIMOS, ESI, NIRSPEC, and NIRC2 time on Keck-II or LRIS, MOSFIRE, and OSIRIS time on Keck-I. Subaru instruments available to the Keck community for the exchange in 2013B include Suprime-Cam, FOCAS, HDS, MOIRCS, IRCS (with NGS/LGSAO with 188 elements), FMOS, and COMICS. Please see this Subaru web page for specific details of applying for Keck time through Subaru.
Yale joined the Keck community as a separate Participating Institution beginning in semester 2012B and also continues their cooperative agreement with CIT.
Gemini and Keck will not exchange time during semester 2013B. There will be a hiatus with tentative plans to reinstitute the exchange in a future semester.
Split Night Observing Considerations How observers can help make the Support Astronomers more efficient on observing nights split between two observing groups.
The proposal coversheet form for 2013B is available now through the Keck Observer Login Page. All
observers applying for Keck observing time should fill out this form.
Submit the form with your proposal to your institution if required. Please go to the Keck Observer Login Page to login to your Keck home page or to create an account if you do not yet have one. If you have forgotten your login name and password, help is available at the login page. From your Keck homepage you can view your upcoming telescope runs, view your previous semesters' coversheets, create or modify coversheets for the upcoming semester, view and modify your contact information and profile.
