[ASA] Call for Magellan Proposals in Semester 2014B

[Australian Gemini Office]

Proposals for Australian access to the Magellan telescopes for Semester 
2014B
(mid-Jul 2014 - mid-Jan 2015) are due by *5:00pm AEST, Monday 7 April 2014*.

(A separate call for Gemini and Subaru proposals in Semester 2014B with a
31 March 2014 deadline was issued last week - please see
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/pipermail/asa/2014-March/000474.html)


What's new for Semester 2014B?
------------------------------

  * There will be a single f/5 block in October 2014 (MMIRS followed by
    MegaCam), as well as a single adaptive optics MagAO run of between
    28 and 35 nights beginning early in November. Between 30 and 50% of
    the MagAO nights are reserved for the University of Arizona, with
    the remaining nights distributed by Magellan shares. Note that
    whenever either the wide-field f/5, or the AO adaptive secondary
    mirror are mounted on the Clay telescope, none of the f/11
    instruments (MIKE, MagE, LDSS3, PFS, M2FS) are available.
  * The Magellan Adaptive Optics (MagAO
    <https://visao.as.arizona.edu/observers/>) facility is a new natural
    guide star system for the Clay telescope that uses a high-order
    wavefront sensor and adaptive secondary mirror to deliver near
    diffraction-limited imaging performance with either an optical
    (VisAO
    <https://visao.as.arizona.edu/software_files/visao/html/visao_userguide.html>)
    or an infrared (Clio2
    <http://zero.as.arizona.edu/groups/clio2usermanual/>) camera. It is
    planned to replace the Clio2 detector to provide lower read-noise in
    the J- and H-bands, so Clio2 is offered as shared-risk in these
    bands for 2014B. Those interested in using MagAO in 2014B should
    contact Laird Close (lclose at as.arizona.edu) before submitting a
    proposal.
  * The MMIRS detector is currently being upgraded, so MMIRS will be
    offered in shared-risks mode in 2014B. The new Hawaii-2RG array will
    offer QE in Y, J, H, and K of 80%, 78%, 82%, and 80%; read-noise as
    low as 3e-; dark current of 0.006 e-/sec/pix; and lower cross talk
    and persistence. Note that the instrument may be moved to the MMT in
    2015 for at least a couple of years.
  * A new CCD camera with much-improved red sensitivity
    <http://ausgo.aao.gov.au/LDSS3_presentation.pdf> is due to be
    commissioned in March and become the default detector for LDSS3,
    although programs focusing on bluer wavelengths will have the option
    to use the original CCD in certain blocks. Interested PIs should
    contact Jacob Bean (jbean at cfa.harvard.edu) about the new CCD before
    applying.
  * The Carnegie Institution for Science and Astronomy Australia Limited
    (AAL) have signed an agreement to continue Australian access to
    fifteen nights per year on the Magellan
    <http://www.astronomyaustralia.org.au/facilities/magellan>telescopes
    until 2017B.


How to apply
------------

Further information about all Magellan instrumentation on offer, travel funding, and the application procedure is described at:

http://ausgo.aao.gov.au/magellan.html



Need help?
----------

For any enquiries about Australian usage of Magellan please contact the Australian Gemini Office (ausgo at aao.gov.au).


Stuart Ryder
Australian Gemini Office
ausgo at aao.gov.au


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