Telescope Proposal Forms

Proposals & Updates for Time on Optical/IR Telescopes

FORMS

Time on all Optical/IR UAO telescopes is allocated in two semesters: roughly Feb-July (A) and August-January (B). Proposal deadlines are now October 1 and April 1, or a nearby date if the time falls on a weekend: See the call for proposals email.  Late proposals will not be considered.

LBT proposers must also submit a 'PIT' form to LBTO by the deadline. ( https://scienceops.lbto.org/proposal-submission/ )

GTO allocations/proposals are due at Steward Oct. 15, 2026.

INSTRUCTIONS

All proposers (general and GTO partners) should submit electronically the processed pdf version to our new proposal submission site.

Make sure to download the current proposal template file  soprop.tex and class file soprop.cls, which are required to produce the pdf file that is uploaded by the electronic submission form. Your proposal will not be processed by the automated account if you use an outdated version of the template files.

NEWS & UPDATES ABOUT TELESCOPES AND INSTRUMENT

We update these notes whenever we're given new news. It's always safest to contact the PI of an instrument or someone at the observatory in question. Information is also available from the independent telescope websites.

 

LBT: Users must simultaneously submit a PIT form to LBTO when submitting a proposal to the UA/SO TAC (see https://scienceops.lbto.org/proposal-submission/)

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MMT: Binospec, MMIRS, Blue Channel are available.

The upgraded MMT AO system with ARIES is nominally available for shared risk observing in the 2026B semester, but prospective observers should consult with Craig Kulesa (ckulesa@arizona.edu) and Manny Montoya (omm@arizona.edu) before submitting a proposal."

MIRAC5 is also available for shared-risk observing, but prospective observers should contact Jarren Leisenring.  

SPOL: Through Steward Observatory's partnership with KASI, a new lens that has very good transmission of light down to the near-UV atmospheric cutoff at about 3200 Angstroms is now available for use in SPOL.  Previously, polarimetry at wavelengths to the blue of about 4000 Angstroms had been impossible.  Science programs not needing measurements of polarization at wavelengths <4500 Angstroms should still utilize the old "red" lens because of its superior throughput in the red and the fact that it is able to  reach an acceptable focus over a broader wavelength range than the new "blue" lens.  In addition, a new, larger aperture for imaging polarimetry has been installed in SPOL.  The new aperture measures 100" x 60" at the 90" and 61" telescopes and  37" x 22" at the MMT. (Contact Paul Smith or Grant Williams for information.)

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Magellan: The Magellan instrumentation suite is developing. Instruments may move ports (and telescopes) and new instruments or modes of existing instruments are evolving. Contact our SAC member (N. Smith) or people at Magellan/Carnegie with specific questions. Here are the latest updates.

 

A description of the instrumentation available for use on the Baade and Clay telescopes can be found at https://www.lco.cl.

 

Note that there is an Exposure Time Calculator for the optical slit spectrographs on Magellan (LDSS3, MIKE, IMACS, and MagE). The ETC can be found at https://www.lco.cl/lcoastronomers/~iss/lcoetc/html/lcoetc_sspec.html.

 

  • Baade: IMACS, FIRE, FourStar, and MagE.

     

  • Baade Rosie-IFU: ROSIE-IFU is an image-slicing IFU module for the IMACS spectrograph. Using the IMACS f/2 camera, the unit provides 42 (0.6 x 52 arcsec) slices covering a 26 x 52 arcsec field of view. The unit has not been tried yet at f/4, but with the f/4 camera the IFU should provide higher wavelength resolution (up to R12000 at the Calcium infrared triplet) using 30 slices with gaps that can be filled by taking data at two positions. With either camera the wavelength coverage must be limited to a dispersed length equivalent to 6 arcmin using a 50 mm filter placed in front of the IFU. Additional information regarding ROSIE-IFU, including a more detailed description, some examples of data produced by the first parts of the data reduction pipeline, and the first pages of the observing manual, are available on the ROSIE-IFU website https://sites.google.com/carnegiescience.edu/ROSIE-IFU. ROSIE-IFU will be offered for use on a shared-risk basis in 2027A, in collaboration with instrument PI Steve Shectman. Interested observers should contact him (shec@carnegiescience.edu) for further details before submitting a proposal.

     

  • Baade LLAMAS: LLAMAS is a fiber-fed IFU spectrograph on the Baade telescope. Interested observers should contact the instrument PI (Rob Simcoe, simcoe@space.mit.edu) for details. Additional information can be found at https://sites.mit.edu/llamas/ with updates about its current status at https://www.lco.cl/llamas/, describing blue channels to be repaired. These repairs are expected to be complete by the 2027A semester. Google Document of the manual, with what is intended to be the most up-to-date material on LLAMAS, can be found here https://tinyurl.com/LLAMASmanual.

     

  • Clay f/11: LDSS3. The LDSS3 spectrograph will be available in 2027A on the west platform outside of the WINERED residency periods and only through the dark run ending April 13. The WINERED residency periods will be specified in the upcoming SAC meeting. After April 13, work will begin to ready the instrument for deployment at a folded port, hopefully in 2027B

     

  • Clay f/11: MIKE. MIKE will be available throughout the 2027A semester.

     

  • Clay f/11 PFS: PFS is a high resolution echelle spectrograph optimized for precision radial velocity measurements. PFS is a PI instrument and will only be available via collaborative arrangement with the instrument team. Please read the Collaboration Agreement at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x6R6Q1RfqTISBPscuSZTbHm6F8ukWAfKPsbgf63DA4g/edit?usp=sharing. If you are interested in applying for time on PFS in the 2027A semester contact Steve Shectman (shec@carnegiescience.edu) two weeks before submitting a proposal.

     

  • Clay f/11 M2FS: M2FS is a multi-fiber spectrograph with both high (17000 < R < 34000), medium (4000 < R < 14000), and low (1500 < R < 3000) resolution modes. M2FS can deploy up to 256 fibers over a field diameter of at the Clay NAS-E f/11 focus. M2FS is a PI instrument and is available via collaborative arrangement with the instrument team. The instrument cannot be used as a purely remotely-operated instrument, but service observing modes can usually be arranged. If you are interested in using M2FS, please contact Mario Mateo (mmateo@umich.edu) for further details before submitting a proposal.

     

  • Clay f/11 IFU-M: IFUM is an IFU interface to the M2FS spectrograph. IFUM offers three IFUs ranging in field area/spaxel size from 13x14 arcsec / 0.54 arcsec (HR), 22x24 arcsec / 1.1 arcsec (STD), and 34x35 arcsec / 1.9 arcsec (LSB). Spectral resolution options available with M2FS (see above) are generally also available with IFUM. IFUM will be available for general observing in the 2027A semester as part of the process of transitioning IFUM to facility-instrument status at Magellan. Contact Mario Mateo (mmateo@umich.edu) for further details before submitting a proposal.

     

  • Clay f/5: MegaCam. MegaCam remains officially retired.

     

  • Clay AO: MagAO-X will be offered in the 2027A semester most likely for an extended period in the middle of the semester. Proposals are invited for observations in collaboration with the MagAO-X team. Please refer to the Instrument Use Policy here: https://magao-x.org/docs/handbook/observers/index.html. Contact the MagAO-X PI, Jared Males (jrmales@.arizona.edu), before submitting to discuss your proposal.

     

  • Clay f/11 WINERED: Winered is a Y- J-band echelle spectrograph with intermediate and high resolution modes. There will be likely be two extended runs in the 2027A semester with the instrument on the west platform. Information about the instrument can be found at https://merlot.kyoto-su.ac.jp/WINERED/Magellan/Public For additional information about instrument performance, characteristics, and availability please contact Andy McWilliam (andy@carnegiescience.edu).

     

  • Clay PISCO: PISCO will not be available during the 2027A semester.

     

  • Clay Proto-Lightspeed: Proto-Lightspeed is a high-speed, deep sub-electron read noise optical imager mounted at the Clay Nasmyth East focus. Proto-Lightspeed delivers seeing-limited imaging over a 1’ field at up to 200 Hz full-field, up to 6600 Hz for a 1.6”×1’ window, and GPS-referenced absolute timing better than 30 µs. The camera is single-channel with g’, r’, and i’ filters. For narrow-band work, proto-Lightspeed carries a 1.1 nm FWHM Hα filter, a 4 nm FWHM filter centered at 672 nm, and a 2 nm FWHM filter centered at 514 nm. The latter two are mounted on a rotation stage, allowing the bandpass to be tilt-tuned to follow Hα or [O III] out to z ≈ 0.025. Users should size observations with the public ETC https://lightspeed-astro.github.io/etc.html and consult Layden et al. 2026 (PASP 138, 065001) for full performance details. Proto-Lightspeed is available as a P.I. instrument, and there may be opportunity to collaborate with the team on projects in the 2027A semester. Please contact the instrument P.I., Kevin Burdge (kburdge@mit.edu), for further details.

     

 

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90-inch

90prime: The instrument has been upgraded. Please talk to Dave Sand for details.

SPOL: Through Steward Observatory's partnership with KASI, a new lens that has very good transmission of light down to the near-UV atmospheric cutoff at about 3200 Angstroms is now available for use in SPOL.  Previously, polarimetry at wavelengths to the blue of about 4000 Angstroms had been impossible.  Science programs not needing measurements of polarization at wavelengths <4500 Angstroms should still utilize the old "red" lens because of its superior throughput in the red and the fact that it is able to  reach an acceptable focus over a broader wavelength range than the new "blue" lens.  In addition, a new, larger aperture for imaging polarimetry has been installed in SPOL.  The new aperture measures 100" x 60" at the 90" and 61" telescopes and  37" x 22" at the MMT. (Contact Paul Smith or Grant Williams for information.)

Arizona Robotic Telescope Network (ARTN):  Remote observing with ARTN at the 61" + Mont4K is now supported by Mtn Ops. BUT please contact Dave Sand before submitting a proposal.

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Proposals for Time on ARO Telescopes

The Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) at regular intervals solicits proposals for the 10-meter Sub-millimeter Telescope (SMT) located on Mount Graham, Arizona, and the new ALMA Prototype 12-meter Telescope (12m) located on Kitt Peak, Arizona. There will be an email call for proposals. The new ARO website is HERE.