4th Quarter Proposal Deadlines, Mimir Status

4th Quarter [October, November, December 2005] Observing Proposals are Due On:

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

• August 8 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, nor is training provided during this time. Outside users must have become certified (generally via training during collaborative time) prior to proposing new observations. Additionally, for Mimir, certified users may *not* certify new users, which is different than for prior 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 for 2005/Q4 *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.

Clemens will not be available for certification training on the Perkins before November 15th. Check with Buie concerning his schedule.

Notes on Commissioned Observing Modes for Mimir

Until the end of the August servicing (see below), Mimir observing has only been allowed in the F/5 camera mode. The camera block became sticky so camera motions were not allowed until this problem could be resolved. We hope to commission the F/17 camera mode for new observations, but this cannot take place until 3rd quarter. Q4 observation proposals based on the F/17 camera should include plans for how to conduct the observations in the F/5 mode, in case F/17 is not available.

In the F/5 camera configuration, the following observing modes are commissioned:

1. Broadband imaging in J, H, Ks
2. Narrowband imaging with H2On, H2Off
3. Spectroscopy with the JHK grism (+1.17LP)
4. Spectroscopy in the J-spec mode (J-Band + LM grism)
5. Spectroscopy in the long-K-spec mode (1.85LP + JHK grism)
6. Polarimetry in the H-band

Modes we have played with, but have not yet calibrated scientifically, include

1. Broadband imaging in L (but using sub-frame readout)
2. Spectroscopy in L (also sub-frame readout)

New observing mode options were commissioned this past quarter. 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:

Mimir will be taken out of service after the third week in July and not returned to service until about the second week in September. This is to allow for three weeks of warm servicing in August. Service items include fixing the camera motion problem, filter wheel encoder problems, some remaining thermal management issues, and to work on reliability and repeatability of the slit/decker units.

An observing run to work on improving detector operation is planned for late November or early December. This will result in changes to the detector operating conditions and will require new calibrations (esp linearity and flat-fields) to be obtained for data taken after that run.