Call for Proposals

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Semester S11A: February 1, 2011 -- July 31, 2011

Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Subaru Telescope invites observing proposals for Semester S11A. Applicants are required to download the application form from the Application Form page, and prepare submission following the instructions in How to Submit? page and relevant instrument page. Please also refer to our Open Use Policy. Regarding the status of the telescope, please see Telescope webpage.

Open Use Schedule for S11A

Application Form

Important Notice for S11A

Change of the Proposal Submission Address	Proposals should be sent to . Please note the address has been changed since this semester.
Opening of AO188 LGS mode	In S11A, laser guide star (LGS) mode of AO188 will be available (not from the beginning but) from the latter half of S11A. Please note that the operation will be in shared-risk. Observers are responsible for preparing backup targets that can be observed using natural guide stars or without AO assistance. Observers who intend to use the LGS mode should make contact with the AO188 Support Astronomer in advance. The natural guide star (NGS) mode is also available as usual.
Opening of FMOS IRS2	FMOS (Fiber Multi-Object Spectrograph) will be available for open use, but the operation will be in a shared-risk mode. From S11A, IRS2 as well as IRS1 will be available, but the observation mode will be limited only to the Low Resolution (LR) mode for both spectrographs. Please note the follows: (i) 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. (ii) At the end of the S10A observation (late June 2010), we encountered a trouble in the Echidna fiber positioner system. Although it may have been fixed by the beginning of S11A, applicants for FMOS time in S11A would need to estimate observing times by assuming an overhead of 50% (instead of 40%). Please refer to FMOS page for details.
GTO Targets of FMOS and AO188	FMOS and AO188 teams are going to carry out Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO; allowed to each instrument team at the commissioning phase). Applicants for FMOS or AO188 are required to check the candidate fields/targets of FMOS GTO or AO188 GTO, though it does not prevent open-use applicants from observing these fields/targets.
Inconvenience Due to TUE Refurbishment in Early 2011	Because of the extensive refurbishment of Top-Unit Exchanger (TUE), available instruments at the beginning of S11A (early Februay) will be limited to those using the IR secondary mirror (i.e., MOIRCS, COMICS, IRCS).
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. 5-10 nights (Gemini), maximum 2 nights (Keck I), and maximum 4 nights (Keck II) are available in S11A for this purpose. Those who have direct access to Gemini or Keck time must refrain from submitting proposals to this program. In S11A, normal (non-ToO) observations with Gemini will be executed in a 'classical' or 'queue' mode whichever you prefer. The exchange agreement with Gemini equates one classical night 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.
FOCAS New Detector	In S11A, the new detector system will be used for FOCAS observations. See the FOCAS page for more information.

Other Notice for Applicants

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 data of optical characteristics) to Fumiaki Nakata by October 31, 2010.
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.
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.
Proposal Update Limited	We apply a rule that the number of times for updating a registered proposal should not exceed two (i.e., allowable only up to 2nd revision).
FAQs and Tips on Electronic Submission	We have prepared a page where Frequently Asked Questions and useful Tips are summarized related to eletronic proposal submission. When you are in trouble, we recommend you to take a look at it first before sending us a question.
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) of the application form, though the request may not necessarily be granted, depending on the instrument status and/or scheduling limitations. Please note that, as far as Suprime-Cam is concerned, observations will in principle be conducted remotely (irrespective of observer's intention) according to the policy of the observatory.