Semester 2009B Instruments
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Semester 2009B Instruments |
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Instruments Available for Semester 2009B
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
NIRCs (speckle)
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 and MOIRCS 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 late-Oct/early Nov)
NIRC2-LGS (see LGS note below)(not available late-Oct/early Nov)
OSIRIS-NGS
OSIRIS-LGS (see LGS note below)
Suprime-Cam and MOIRCS at Subaru (see below)
Combined Keck 1 and Keck 2 Interferometer: Visibility science, Nuller science.
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 2009B.
Keck I
LRIS:
The LRISr (red side) detector upgrade will happen in May 2009. June and July will be considered shared-risk months. Observers should see improved red-side sensitivity at the longer wavelengths with the upgraded detector.
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.
HIRES: Observers are asked to specify a proprietary period for HIRES data that are automatically ingested into the Keck Observatory Archive (KOA). Please see the KOA proprietary period policy for more information.
NIRC: Because of limited requests for NIRC during recent semesters, we will restrict NIRC to campaign mode of one block of nights during semester 2009B. The date will depend on scientific requests. NIRC may be unavailable after semester 2009B. NIRC must be removed from its storage slot on the Nasmyth deck in order to provide a storage slot for MOSFIRE, and the work involved in getting that slot ready for MOSFIRE is expected to start in mid-March 2010.
NIRCs: (NIRC speckle) While this instrument configuration is the same as NIRC, this category will help alert us to the need for good primary mirror phase.
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). For Gemini North targets should be limited to RA = 17:00 -> 13:30 hours and declination -37 -> +79 degrees. For Gemini South targets should be limited to RA = 16:00 -> 12:00 hours and declination -89 -> +28 degrees. T-ReCS may only be offered between August and October, depending on community demand and expected engineering. MICHELLE availability may also be restricted, and will be determined by community demand. NIRI will be available in the non-AO mode and in NIRI+Altair, natural guidestar mode (but not laser guide star mode) for the Keck Community. Please watch the Gemini web site for further details and updates on instrument availability for all three instruments.
Keck II
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 2009B. 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 2009B, 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, 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 project plan, this may occur as early as February 2010, and OSIRIS will be unavailable for three months. More information will be provided when available, and as the schedule firms up. However, observers needing OSIRIS early in 2010A might consider applying for time late in 2009B instead.
Suprime-Cam and MOIRCS at Subaru: Through an exchange with the Subaru Observatory, up to six nights may be available to observers who would like to use Suprime-Cam or MOIRCS. Suprime-Cam is a wide-field optical imager with a 34'x27' field. MOIRCS is an IR imager and multi-object spectrograph. 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.
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 2009B 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. The nuller is fully available for science proposals in semester 2009B. We offer increased wavelength coverage (L-band) and spectral resolution (R ~ 1800) for shared-risk proposals in this call. Please see the NExScI web site for important details concerning planning for interferometer observations and for the sensitivity and efficiency information. All science observations with the Keck Interferometer are taken in service observing mode and may be scheduled in campaign mode.
For detailed information about the instruments, please check the Instruments Home Page
This page last updated 10-Feb-09. bas.