Call for Proposals for the
NASA Infrared Telescope Facility

DEADLINE: Friday 01 April 2016

NASA Infrared Telescope Facility Observing Proposals. The due date for the 2016B semester (August 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017) is Friday, April 1, 2016. See our online submission form, which is available for proposal submission from 12:00AM on March 01, 2016 until 5:00PM on April 01, 2016 HST. Available instruments include: (1) SpeX, a 0.7 – 5.3 micron cross-dispersed medium-resolution spectrograph (up to R=2,500) and imager; (2) CSHELL, a 1-5 micron high-resolution spectrograph (up to R=40,000), available until Sept. 30, 2016; (3) MORIS, a 512x512 pixel Andor CCD camera (60"x60" field-of-view) mounted at the side-facing window of the SpeX cryostat that can be used simultaneously with SpeX; and (4) iSHELL, a 1.1 – 5.3 micron cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph (up to R=70,000) and imager, is expected to be available starting Oct. 1, 2016 under shared risk. Information on available facility and visitor instruments and performance can be found at: 2019http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/Facility.

PI-led visitor instruments (available on a collaborative basis with the instrument team) include: TEXES (5-20 micron high-resolution spectrograph; contact Matt Richter at richter@physics.ucdavis.edu for more information), BASS (3-14 micron spectrometer; contact Ray Russell at ray.w.russell@aero.org), CELESTE (5-25 micron echelle spectrometer; contact Don Jennings at donald.e.jennings@nasa.gov) and HIPWAC (9-12 micron heterodyne spectrometer; contact Ted Kostiuk at theodor.kostiuk-1@nasa.gov).

Remote observing is available with SpeX, iSHELL, CSHELL, and MORIS. Requests for remote observing must be made in the proposal application – later requests will be considered if requested at least one month ahead of time. If you wish to observe from your home institution, you must comply with the requirements for video conferencing and instrument operation provided on the Remote Observers Information page. Observers are strongly encouraged to contact Miranda Hawarden-Ogata (hawarden@ifa.hawaii.edu) to set up a test of the video link and user interface at least one month prior to their observing run. We cannot guarantee a successful remote observing connection on short notice since we have no control of hardware and software compatibility on the user’s side. It is the responsibility of the PI to provide up to date observing contact information.

To keep our bibliography up to date, and to ensure future funding of the IRTF, we ask that you send us citations to your latest IRTF publications. You can check your publications using our website bibliography page for refereed papers: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/search/q=bibgroup%3A%22irtf%22&sort=date%20desc%2C%20bibcode%20desc&p_=0. Please send any missing references to Bobby Bus (schelte@hawaii.edu), and please continue to include in your paper the acknowledgement to the IRTF and the name of the instrument used.

Important Notice: Beginning with the 2016B semester, raw data files taken with IRTF facility instruments will be made publicly available via an online archive following a proprietary period that begins at the end of the semester, and extends for 12 months. All data files obtained during the 2016B semester will be available for public inspection and download from the archive starting Feb. 1, 2018. As part of the archive process, the abstract field on the proposal form has been increased to 300 words. This abstract should now include summaries of both the scientific and technical justifications for the observing program, and will be preserved as part of the public archive.