2nd Quarter 2006 Proposal Deadlines, Mimir Status

2nd Quarter [April, May, June 2006] Observing Proposals are Due On:

• February 1 for outside visitors requesting non-collaborative time - these proposals must use the combined visitor TAC proposal submission path

• February 4 for BU/IAR internal proposals (and collaborative proposals)

Outside Visitor Time

This is time set aside for outside scientists to use Mimir and/or other instruments on the Perkins telescope. Operators are *not* provided. Outside users must become certified (generally via training during collaborative time) prior to conducting new observations. Additionally, for Mimir, certified users may *not* certify new users, which is different than for other instruments on the Perkins.

Scientists considering proposing Outside Visitor time with Mimir are *strongly* encouraged to contact Dan Clemens and/or Marc Buie well in advance of the proposal due date.

Internal and Collaborative Proposals

Internal proposals are those with Boston University or Lowell Observatory principal investigators who are certified to use Mimir. Students and postdocs may also be principal investigators on internal proposals, but must arrange sponsorship with faculty supervisors and receive faculty endorsements. The development of new internal proposals to use Mimir should include discussions with Dan Clemens and/or Marc Buie to ascertain commissioned modes, sensitivity, and rough instrument schedule plans.

Collaborative proposals generally have an external principal investigator and an internal, certified, co-investigator. Collaborative observing projects are the preferred path for outside users to gain Mimir certification to enable them to propose for outside visitor time. Scientists interested in collaborative use of Mimir must discuss their project ideas with a certified user well in advance of the proposal due date.

Notes on User Certification

Solo use of Mimir requires that the observer be certified for Mimir use. This involves spending several nights at the Perkins telescope using Mimir with either Marc Buie (Lowell Observatory) or Dan Clemens (Boston University), who are at present the only Mimir certifiers. Outside visitors proposing Mimir use *must* contact one of the two certifiers prior to submitting their proposal(s) and arranging a plan for certification. This plan must be included in the submitted proposal. Note that polarimetry certification is best done with Dan Clemens, spectroscopy with Marc Buie, and imaging with either.

Notes on Commissioned Observing Modes for Mimir

At this time, the camera block appears to be moving and functioning normally, allowing users access to both F/17 and F/5 plate scales. Also, the recent Nov/Dec detector tuning run resulted in a much better set of operating conditions for the detector array. Well depths are now about 10,000 ADUs (100,000 electrons) and dark current/hot pixels are much reduced.

The following observing modes are commissioned:

1. F/5, F/17 Broadband imaging in J, H, Ks
2. F/5, F/17 Narrowband imaging with H2On, H2Off
3. F/5, F/17 Spectroscopy with the JHK grism (+1.17LP)
4. F/5 Spectroscopy in the J-spec mode (J-Band + LM grism)
5. F/5 Spectroscopy in the K-spec mode (1.85LP + JHK grism)
6. F/5 Imaging Polarimetry in the H-band (F/17 should work as well)
7. F/17 Broadband imaging in L (generally using sub-frame readout - field size up to about 1.5x1.5 arcmin at 0.18 arcsec per pixel)

Additionally, we have played with the following, but have not yet commissioned:

1. Spectroscopy in L (also sub-frame readout), with either the F/5 camera or F/17 camera
2. M-Band spectroscopy
3. L+M Band spectroscopy

A mode of interest to many of us, M-Band imaging could be attempted with the F/17 camera and very small fields of view (say 40x40 arcsec). It is limited by the detector array well depths and the readout time, which is currently long and optimized for JHK imaging and spectroscopy. As time permits over the next few months, faster readout modes will be developed to try to support wider field M-Band imaging and spectroscopy.

New array operating modes were commissioned recently and are now available for general use. These are:

Sub-Frame Readout - which allows reading a rectangular shaped region, currently centered on the array center. This mode should be used for L-band direct imaging and spectroscopy, where faster read times are necessary to prevent filling detector electron wells.

Fowler-type sampling - this mode obtains up to 16 readouts of the array at the beginning and end of each integration. The images generated can be averaged to effect a reduction in read noise. Since each read takes about 0.25 sec, this mode is most useful for JHK spectroscopy and narrow band (H2 S1 line) imaging, where the integration times are long and read noise may dominate the total noise budget.

Mimir servicing schedule:

At the present time, no extended Mimir servicing is scheduled for Q2/2006, though there will be a short (few day) downtime period to replace the Helium charcoal adsorber filter.