Call for Proposals

Semester S12A: February 1, 2012 -- July 31, 2012*

*Actually available Open Use time in S12A is expected to be largely cut down (see Important Notice for S12A below).

Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Subaru Telescope invites observing proposals for Semester S12A. Subaru Telescope proposal electric submission system has changed its user interface from email to webform since this Call for Proposals for S12A. Applicants are required to access the ProMS2.0 page to fill the webform for application and upload necessary files (e.g., PDF files of Scientific Justification). There are some restrictions on our instruments. Applicants are required to refer to the relevant instrument page, and 'How to Submit via webform'. Please also refer to our Open Use Policy and Telescope webpage.

Open Use Schedule for S12A

Deadline of Normal/Intensive Program Submission

September 13, 2011 12:00 (Noon) in Japan Standard Time (i.e., September 13, 3:00 am in UT)

Deadline of Service Program Submission

October 7, 2011 12:00 (Noon) in Japan Standard Time (i.e., October 7, 3:00 am in UT)

Time Allocation Committee

early November

Notification of selection results

early December

Important Notice for S12A

Extensive Downtime in S12A

The Open Use Time in S12A is expected to be considerably reduced due to the commissioning works of Hyper Suprime Cam (a new very wide-field camera at the prime focus). The detailed schedule has not been fixed yet.

Change of Proposal Submission System

We newly introduced the webform for proposal submission since this S12A Call for Proposals. All (Normal/Intensive/Service) proposals must be submitted via this webform. Submission of proposal files by mailing (which had been adopted until S11B) is not accepted any more. Please visit How to Submit via webform? page.

Limited Availability of S-Cam and Cassegrain Instruments

Due to the telescope cooling system incident, Suprime-Cam, FOCAS, and Cassegrain Auto Guider have been damaged, and are unavailable for observations at the moment. The damage assessment and the repair work of those instruments are still ongoing. FOCAS will be unavailable throughout S12A, while we expect we can restart open-use observations with Suprim-Cam and Cassegrain Auto Guider (for MOIRCS and COMICS) from the latter half of S12A semester (e.g., summer season of 2012) under a shared-risk mode.

Status of FMOS

FMOS (Fiber Multi-Object Spectrograph) is available for open use, but its operation will be conducted in a shared-risk mode. In S12A, the High Resolution mode (HR) is available on IRS2 as well as on IRS1. As of August 2011, the data from IRS2 (whichever Low Resolution mode or High Resolution mode) seem to have some additional noise that lowers the sensitivity of IRS2. The origin of this problem is currently under investigation.
In view of the fact that FMOS has been developed under a close partnership and elaborate collaboration between Japan and United Kingdom, proposals from internationally joint teams comprising Japan and UK astronomers are particularly welcomed. Please refer to FMOS web page for details.

Note for AO188 LGS mode

In S12A, the laser guide star (LGS) mode is available for open use in normal operation mode, although there is some restrictions on some special operation mode. Observers who intend to use the LGS mode are encouraged to make contact with the AO188 Support Astronomer in advance. Please refer to AO188 web page for details.

GTO

AO188 teams are going to carry out Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO; allowed to each instrument team at the commissioning phase). FMOS GTO will be completed in S11B and no GTO observation will be carried out from S12A.

Time Exchange Programs with Gemini and Keck

According to the inter-observatory time-exchange agreement, we accept proposals of observations with Gemini (North & South) and Keck telescopes, which will be screened by Subaru TAC within the framework of Subaru Call for Proposals.

4-8 nights (Gemini) and maximum 5 nights (Keck I or II) are available in S12A for this purpose.
Those who have direct access to Gemini or Keck time must refrain from submitting proposals to this program.
In S12A, normal (non-ToO) observations with Gemini will be executed in a 'classical' or 'queue' mode whichever you prefer. The exchange agreement with Gemini assumes that one classical night is equivalent to 7.5 hours of queue time.
Submitting ToO (Target of Opportunity) proposals to Gemini telescope, except for GRB-related ones, is possible and welcomed. This Gemini ToO program will be executed in a queue mode.

Please refer to Subaru/Gemini Time Exchange page and Subaru/Keck Time Exchange page for more details.

Other Notice for Applicants

Time Allocation Basically One-night Unit

Telescope time allocation is basically made in units of one night. Half night allocation may be exceptionally possible, only if a suitable program can be found for the other half night.

Clarify the Set of S-Cam Filters

Suprime-Cam users must explicitly describe the filters they intend to use in Entry 11 'Instrument Requirements' (in the application form), where the desired set as well as the minimum acceptable set should be clearly specified. If you wish to bring your own filters, please read the User filter acceptance policy on the Suprime-Cam web pages carefully and submit the required documents (the certificate of actual size measurement and inspection report/data of optical characteristics) to Fumiaki Nakata by October 31, 2011.

Clarify the Number of MOIRCS/MOS Masks

MOIRCS/MOS users must explicitly describe the required number of masks in Entry 11 'Instrument Requirements' (in the application form), where the desired number as well as the minimum acceptable number should be clearly specified.

New Image Slicer in HDS

HDS observations intending to use the image slicer, which has been opened since S11B under a shared-risk mode, should in principle be carried out at the summit (i.e., remote observations would not be accepted for this case.)

Duplicated Submission Unallowable

An identical proposal of the same science/targets using the same instrument/telescope should not be submitted twice at the same time through different TAC processes. For example, if a proposal using Keck/Gemini was once submitted to Subaru time-exchange program, it should not be applied to the ordinary proposal selection on Keck/Gemini side at the same semester. (And vice versa.)

Indication of Moon-affected unacceptable dates

When one particular source or several sources whose coordinates are concentrated to a particular range are planned to observe in bright or grey nights, observations may be severely affected by the Moon in some particular nights. In such cases, those inconvenient or unacceptable dates should be explicitly indicated in Entry 10 (Schedule Requirements) of the application form.

Remote Observation

Remote observations, conducted from the Hilo Base Facility, may be allowed for IRCS, HDS, Suprime-Cam, and MOIRCS (only imaging mode). Those who wish to perform the observations remotely should check the box in Entry 10 (Scheduling Requirements), though the request may not necessarily be granted, depending on the instrument status and/or scheduling limitations.