Keck Call & Proposal Instructions

Call for Proposals: UC time on the Keck telescopes

Semester 2022B (Aug. 1, 2022 through Jan 31, 2023)

Deadline: Proposals are due on Thursday, Mar 17th, 2022 by 5:00pm PDT

1.1 Due Date

Proposals for UC observing time on the Keck Telescopes for Semester 2022B are due by 5:00 pm PDT on Thursday, Mar 17th, 2022.  There will be 54.5 nights available on K1 and 58.0 nights available on K2 spread evenly across the semester and lunar phase.  There are 7 one-hour Partnership ToO interrupts available.    A PI may ask for a larger number of UC-time only ToO interrupts as well.   

1.2 Proposal Process

NOTE: In normal (non-LMAP) proposals PIs will now have to report if they are any key LMAP members included in the LMAP management plan.

The principal consideration in evaluating proposals will be the scientific merit of the proposed project. Projects that take maximum advantage of the unique capabilities of the Keck Telescopes will be given high weight. A brief description should be given of backup programs that will be carried out if conditions are not suitable for the primary program. Please see https://www.ucobservatories.org/observatory/keck-observatory/keck-proposal-instructions/ which describes the UC online proposal submission process, and https://www.ucobservatories.org/observatory/keck-observatory/keck-proposal-guidelines/ which describes the required sections and their page limits. The Time Allocation Committees take page limits very seriously, so please pay close attention as you draft your proposal. 

Keck is continuing the login-password system to allow you to retrieve and modify your coversheets. Returning observers should use the same account information as last semester. New observers may request an account from the page http://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/PILogin/login.php 

The coversheet form is available through the login page link above. Once you have created a coversheet and you are logged in, please go to the instructions for submitting Keck proposals at: https://spg.ucolick.org/cgi-bin/TAC/login.cgi to create the rest of your proposal as a PDF file to upload to the UC proposal server. Note that the coversheet has been modified again this semester, so please pay close attention when filling it out. 

You may use the extra page allocated to the project update if this is a resubmission to respond to the previous TAC comments, even if the previous submission was unsuccessful.  It would be useful to mention the previous proposal title (if different), PI (if different) and proposal number.    

1.3 Be Kind to your TAC Members 

Please read the page limits carefully on the keck-guidelines web page (https://www.ucobservatories.org/observatory/keck-observatory/keck-proposal-guidelines/) and adhere to them. TAC members will be instructed to stop reading any text beyond the stated page limits. Note that the text format is 12 point font; single-spaced; one-inch margins. 

Although there is not a formal limit on the number of Keck proposals that one PI can submit, experience has shown that TAC members view one PI submitting numerous proposals as a real burden on the reviewing process; it generally does not increase the odds of a PI getting Keck time. Please use moderation. 

1.4 Time Domain Astronomy (TDA)

Observers will continue to have the ability to propose both Target of Opportunity (ToO) and Cadence programs using the Keck Cover Sheet. Keck policies related to Target of Opportunity (ToO) and Cadence proposals can be found at https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/common/Keck_TDA_ToO_policy_SSC_Approved.pdf and https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/common/Keck_TDA_Cadence_policy_SSC_Approved.pdf.

If your project involves both Classical and TDA observing, you MUST put in two separate cover sheets so that the Keck TDA software can clearly distinguish between the two. Instead of submitting the same text twice, please submit the actual proposal text under the Classical cover sheet; the text submitted under the TDA (ToO or Cadence) cover sheet should merely include the proposal title, PI, and proposal number, together with a sentence stating that the main text can be found under the proposal number of the Classical cover sheet. The Cover Sheet form will not let you submit one proposal requesting both Classical and TDA observing time. 

For Semester 2022B, two types of ToO requests can be made.  TAC- approved ToO projects which are able to interrupt observers at any of the four institutions, to increase the utility of the ToO process. These are called Partnership ToO proposals. There is a limit to the number of Partnership ToO interrupts.   The second kind of TAC approved ToO program (Institutional) can only interrupt UC programs.   Note that there is not a limit to the number of “Institutional” ToO interrupts of fellow UC observers. But because UC nights are only a fraction of the total available Keck nights, the probability of a successful ToO interrupt using UC time alone is smaller than for Partnership ToOs. Also note that UC Institutional ToO time can be interrupted by a Partnership ToO, so think through your strategy carefully.   Both Partnership and Institutional ToO interrupts are counted in full 1 hour increments even if less than 1 hour of time is used.  All ToO proposal requests should be made in units of 1 hour interrupts.

In 2022B, partial-night observations can be interrupted. The Keck guidelines state that “Individual TACs may designate a few nights (partial or whole) as exempt from ToO interrupts. This designation must be scientifically motivated, namely that such interruptions would seriously compromise the scientific return of the entire observing time. Proposers should make any such requests to their individual TACs as part of their observing proposal. Use of these exemptions is expected to be rare.” So if you think your project deserves, for scientific reasons, to have one of these rare exemptions from interruptions, please state so in your proposal and give a very strong justification for your request. 

1.5 Cadence Observations 

Keck’s policies for Cadence observing (https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/common/Keck_TDA_Cadence_policy_SSC_Approved.pdf) are reasonably complicated. These include a new category called “Partnership Snapshot” observatories. If you are contemplating applying for Cadence time, please read the guidelines carefully. 

Keck continues to reconcile cross-institutional cadence and ToO allocations. Scheduled cadence time is returned to the institution at a one to one rate, and ToO time is returned at a rate of two hours for every one hour interruption because the ToO PI will not choose to call for a trigger if the weather is unacceptable. 

1.6  Twilight Cadence Observations

In 2022B, institutions will continue to be able to allocate one twilight observing program per telescope, for a total of up to two programs.  On Keck I, OSIRIS-NGS (imager only) will be available, and on Keck II NIRC2-NGS will be available.  Please note that due to ongoing AO upgrades, there may be times in the semester when AO is unavailable for cadence observations. Cadence program PIs are responsible for development of instrument scripts, providing documentation, and training of staff needed to make the cadence program a turnkey operation.

1.7 Large Multi-Year Projects 

UC LMAP observing projects with well-defined scientific objectives that require a large number of nights to bring to completion (normally 10 or more nights per semester). The UC LMAP program allows projects extending for more than one semester to be carried out with multi-year approval from the beginning. LMAPs should generally be directed toward obtaining a high quality, coherent, homogeneous data set that will allow scientific questions of major importance to be addressed in a thorough, systematic manner. Please consult https://www.ucobservatories.org/observatory/keck-observatory/keck-telescope-time-for-lmap-proposals/ for current policies regarding LMAPs. 

1.8 At-Home (pajama mode) Observing

• At-Home observing will continue to be available to observers
• At home observing requires the installation of software which only runs on linux and macOS operating systems.
• Observers using at home observing should plan to work with Keck staff to install and test the software several days ahead of their run to allow time for troubleshooting.

2.0 Notes on Instruments and Availability 

See the following web page for detailed notes on the availability of instruments for 2022B: https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/observing/instavail.html.

SPECIAL NOTES AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR 2022B:

Keck I Telescope:  There will be a 12 night period of shutdown and engineering occurring in either September or October bright time in order to conduct repair work on the Keck I telescope pier.

KCWI:  KCWI will be unavailable during the 22B semester for the installation and commissioning of the red channel, KCRM.

NIRSPAO/NIRSPEC: Nirspec and Nirspao nights may be scheduled in campaign mode to limit the number of reconfigs into AO during the semester.

KPIC: KPIC is being upgraded in both 22A and 22B.  KPIC will be available for shared-risk science in the October to January portion of 22B in collaboration with and supported by the KPIC team. KPIC is expected to become available as a facility capability in 23A.

NIRC2:

•  The vortex coronagraph in LGS mode is not available.
• The vortex coronagraph with the PyWFS is only available through collaboration with the PyWFS and vortex development teams.

Please, see the NIRC2 manual (https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/nirc2/ObserversManual.html#Section5.2.2) for information about vortex operations.

DEIMOS: The top-left CCD on the detector mosaic is noisier than the rest of the CCDs. Please see https://www2.keck.hawaii.edu/inst/deimos/detector_issues.html for guidelines on how to design your MOS masks with this issue in mind.

SUBARU exchange:  The SUBARU-KECK exchange will continue as previous semesters with flexibility as to the number of nights available for exchange. The number of exchanged nights will be determined based on the demand from each community.  Keck will offer LRIS, HIRES, OSIRIS, and MOSFIRE on Keck I, and DEIMOS, ESI, NIRSPEC/NIRSPAO, KCWI, NIRES, and NIRC2 on Keck II.   Subaru will offer facility instruments Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), HDS, IRCS (with NGSAO only, see below), and FOCAS, as well as visiting instruments IRD,  CHARIS + SCExAO, VAMPIRES, REACH, Fast PDI, MEC, NsIR, and SWIMS.  Note that PIs must contact the instrument PI for visiting instruments in advance.  Subaru may support half night allocations, but whole night allocations are preferred.   For HSC programs, Subaru may support “queue” observing mode if specified in the proposal, which may allow more flexible allocation such as e.g. very short 0.25 night request. Please check the HSC queue mode website https://www.naoj.org/Observing/queue/index.html for more details.

Notes regarding Subaru facility and instrument availability in 22B:

• Telescope downtime: The Primary Mirror recoating and some maintenance work are planned from July 11 to September 30, 2022.
• Only NGS Mode for AO188: AO188 LGS upgrading work is still ongoing.
• The following PI-type (visiting) instruments are available for S22B.

Please be reminded that proposals requesting PI-type instruments/devices must include the relevant PIs as Co-I of the proposal.

• CHARIS with SCExAO+AO188 (including spectro-polarimetric mode)
• Fast PDI (in a shared-risk mode)
• IRD (in a shared-risk mode)
• MEC (in a shared-risk mode)
• REACH (combination of SCExAO and IRD for single-mode fiber spectroscopy)
• SWIMS (in a shared-risk mode, including IFU mode)
• VAMPIRES with SCExAO+AO188
• NsIR Wave Plate Unit (a visiting device for IRCS/SCExAO polarimetry mode)
• One of the IRD detectors (YJ-band) has been unavailable from the beginning of January 2022. It might be still unavailable in S22B, depending on the progress of troubleshooting in Feb 2022. Please contact IRD team for more details.
• REACH can be used simultaneously with CHARIS with any dispersion modes, but the wavelength coverage of CHARIS will be from 1850 nm to the longest wavelengths (please check the CHARIS website).
• Instrument switching between IRD, REACH, CHARIS, VAMPIRES, Fast PDI, and MEC during a single- or half-night observation is possible. Please check Subaru CfP for the time required for the switching the instruments.