2020 LLP Call for Proposals

This page contains information specific to the 2020 Large and Long Program proposal cycle. General information on the LLP proposal process, including proposal format and requirements, can be found on the LLP Proposal Process webpages.

Important Dates

• December 2019 - 2020 LLP Proposal Cycle Announcement of Opportunity
• February 4, 2020 - Letters of Intent Due
• March 1, 2020 (approx) - 2020B regular semester Call for Proposals released
• April 7, 2020 - 2020 LLP Proposals deadline (extended from original April 1 date)
• Late April, 2020 - Large Program Time Allocation Committee meets
• Mid-June, 2020 - 2020B telescope schedule and LLP proposal cycle announcements

Phase I Tool

Investigators must use the Gemini Phase I Tool to submit Large and Long Program proposals. See the PIT page for installation information and the PIT help pages for assistance. The proposal narrative templates for 2020 are available here.

Instrument Availability

The instruments available for new LLPs are listed below, along with any particular restrictions of note. At a minimum, facility instruments and modes must be currently commissioned to be available for new LLPs. Successful LLPs may also be limited by the semester-specific instrument availability restrictions announced with each semester's regular proposal Call for Proposals.

Gemini South

• GMOS-S: Available for use 2020B-2023A.
• FLAMINGOS-2: Available for use 2020B-2023A. MOS observations with Flamingos-2 are provisionally available for new Large Programs in 2020. As this mode has not yet completed formal commissioning at the time of this announcement (Dec 2019), there is a possibility that this mode will not be available for use in this proposal cycle. A final decision on availability will be announced ahead of the 2020B regular semester Call for Proposals. PIs submitting letters of intent to use this mode will be notified of this decision as soon as it is available. PIs submitting letters of intent to use MOS mode are encouraged to provide some information on the number of masks the program is expected to request in a given semester, so that feasibility guidance may be provided as early as possible.
• GSAOI/GEMS: Available for use 2020B-2023A.
• Zorro: Available for use 2020B-2023A.

Gemini North

• GMOS-N: Available for use 2020B-2023A.
• GNIRS: Not available for new LLP programs (March 13 2020)  Available for use 2020B-2023A. The instrument is expected to be unavailable for a period during late 2020 through early 2021. Full details will be available with the 2020B regular semester call for proposals.
• NIFS: Available for use 2020B-2023A.
• NIRI: Available for use 2020B-2023A. See special note on NIRI proposals below.
• Altair: Not available for new LLP programs (March 13 2020) Available for use 2020B-2023A in both NGS and LGS modes.
• GRACES: Available for use 2020B-2023A
• 'Alopeke: Available for use 2020B-2023A.

Subaru Intensive Programs

PIs from LLP participating partners are invited to submit proposals for Subaru Intensive programs to Gemini through the Gemini-Subaru time exchange program. Subaru Intensive programs applications follow the same rules and eligibility used for the Gemini Large and Long Programs (LLPs). The request of Subaru Intensive program must be clearly stated in the title of the proposal. At most, one proposal will be selected for observations beginning in 2020B. Subaru reserves the right to reject this program if it cannot be reasonably accommodated in the Subaru schedule.

Visitor Instruments

Gemini Observatory welcomes LLP proposals utilizing visitor instruments. The policy on LLP proposals requesting a visiting instrument is available as part of the Visiting Instrument policy. Any PI, either from the instrument team, or from interested members of the community considering a LLP proposal using a visiting instrument is encouraged to contact Gemini Observatory at largeprograms@gemini.edu prior to Letter of Intent submission to discuss the feasibility of any request.

Special Note for programs proposing to utilize NIRI at Gemini North

In previous LLP call for proposals, NIRI has not been available due to the risk of an instrument failure that could heavily impact a NIRI-dependent LLP. Under this current call for proposals, we are including NIRI as an available instrument. However, proposals using NIRI should include a statement on a mitigation strategy if NIRI becomes unavailable during the duration of their large program. This could include a discussion of how GNIRS keyhole imaging could be used to reach the scientific goals of the program, or a discussion of what could be obtained from a partial data sample.

Time Available

Up to 20% of the total time allocation from participating partners is available for LLPs. Details on the distribution of telescope time at Gemini Observatory can be found here. The exact number of hours available to LLPs each semester is not known until each semester's regular Call for Proposals is released. In general, we expect to be able to offer ~200 hours to LLPs at each telescope per semester. Existing LLP allocations, and time reserved for completion of Band 1 LLPs and future LLP allocations will reduce the time available for new LLPs.

The estimated time available for new LLPs is provided in the table below. The time available is estimated as 200 hours less any previously allocated LLP time. The exact time available will depend on instrument commissioning, engineering, campaign science, limited-term partnerships, etc.

Target and Observing Constraint Restrictions

An individual LLP need not request a balanced program across North/South, RA range, observing conditions, etc. However, the ensemble of approved LLPs must not overly impinge on other observing programs. Therefore, the ensemble of approved LPs should not exceed ~25% of any relevant parameter, such as hemisphere, RA range, and observing condition bins. See http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/telescopes-and-sites/observing-condition-constraints for further information on observing condition constraints.

For example, the best image quality, IQ20, in photometric conditions, CC50, only occurs approximately 10% of the time. For the total time available in a typical semester, one would expect these conditions to occur for only ~100 hours during the semester. LLP usage of these conditions would, therefore, be limited to ~25 hours per semester, across all RA bins.

LLPs will also be subject to general semester target availability restrictions, as published in the general call for proposals for each semester.

Previous LLP allocations further reduce the availability of certain Right Ascension and Observing Conditions constraint combinations in future semesters. Noted below are particular RA/Observing Conditions bins where the total time availability is further limited due to these allocations, listed by semester.

Gemini North

• 2020B:
  • RA 0-3h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2020B to new programs.
  • RA 3-6h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2020B to new programs.
  • RA 6-9h: Time within this RA bin is not available in 2020B to new programs.
  • RA 15-18h: Time within this RA bin is not available in 2020B to new programs.
  • RA 21-0h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2020B to new programs.
• 2021A:
  • RA 6-9h: Time within this RA bin is not available in 2021A to new programs.
  • RA 9-12: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin is limited to 5 hours in 2021A to new LLP programs.
  • RA 15-18h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2021A to new programs.
  • RA 18-21h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2021A to new programs.
• 2021B:
  • No restrictions
• 2022A:
  • RA 21-0h : Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2022A to new programs.

Gemini South

• 2020B:
  • RA 0-3h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2020B to new programs.
  • RA 9-12h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2020B to new programs.
• 2021A:
  • RA 9-12h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2021A to new programs.
  • RA 18-21h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2021A to new programs.
• 2021B:
  • RA 0-3h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2021B to new programs.
  • RA 9-12h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2021B to new programs.
• 2022A:
  • RA 9-12h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2022A to new programs
  • RA 18-21h: Time for IQ70 CC50 conditions and better within this RA bin are not available in 2022A to new programs.