W.M. Keck Observatory Observing at WMKO

Each user community, UC, Caltech, NASA, UH, NOAO, Gemini, and Subaru, 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.

Participating Institutions:

• UC
• CIT 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.
• NASA
• NOAO  NOAO will again award Keck time through the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP) during semester 2010B.
• UH 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.
• Gemini and Keck will exchange up to five nights of Gemini North MICHELLE and NIRI and Gemini South T-ReCS time for HIRES time on Keck-I. Please see the Gemini pages for details of applying for HIRES time through Gemini. Successful Keck applicants receiving Gemini time will be required to complete a Gemini Phase 1 application in May, and submit this to Gemini by late May 2010.
• Subaru and Keck will exchange up to six nights of Subaru time for DEIMOS, ESI, NIRSPEC, NIRC2 and OSIRIS time on Keck-II (maximum of four Keck II nights, maximum of two laser guide star nights) or LRIS time on Keck-I (maximum of two Keck I nights). Subaru instruments available for the exchange in 2010B include Suprime-Cam, FOCAS, HDS, MOIRCS, IRCS (with NGSAO with 188 elements) and COMICS. Please see this Subaru web page for specific details of applying for Keck time through Subaru.
  NOTE: For Keck observers applying for time on Subaru: The Subaru telescope will not be available during August 2010 and may not be available during September. Those applying for time in September should be prepared to possibly have their observations scheduled at a later date.

Observing Considerations:

• Choosing the instrument you should use.
• Choosing your observing location.
• Split Observing Night Considerations   Guidelines on how observers can help make the Support Astronomers more efficient on observing nights split between two observing groups.
• Proposal Cover Sheet Form
  The proposal coversheet form for 2010B will soon be available 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.
• Timetable for Applications and Scheduling for the current semester and beyond

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bschaefer@keck.hawaii.edu

This page last updated 8-Feb-10. bas