All proposals from Canada, France, Taiwan and through Opticon for Semester 2008B must use the electronic proposal system operated by the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre. Opticon PIs should check carefully the eligibility of their proposal on the Opticon web site.

The Phase One Observing Proposal SYstem (POOPSY) is an electronic submission system which uses a standard Web browser but is based on LaTeX, a familiar formatting language. Consult the Users Guide for more information.

Please note the instructions on how to properly acknowledge CFHT in refereed papers.

Some important notes:

• MegaCam is an optical Wide-Field instrument. When preparing your proposal, read carefully the notes on MegaCam and Queued Service Observing (QSO). MegaCam is offered in QSO mode only. QSO snapshot programs, i.e. programs with straightforward observations for seeing > 1.2", are particularly encouraged. Those programs are not charged to their respective agency. See the QSO Phase 1 Tutorial for more details.

• WIRCam is CFHT's infrared Wide-Field camera. When preparing your proposal, read carefully the notes on WIRCam and Queued Service Observing (QSO). WIRCam is offered in QSO mode only. QSO snapshot programs, i.e. programs with straightforward observations for seeing > 1.2", are particularly encouraged. Those programs are not charged to their respective agency. See QSO Phase 1 Tutorial for more details. 

• ESPaDOnS is CFHT's spectropolarimeter, capable of doing spectroscopy (at a spectral resolution of 68,000 or 80,000) or spectropolarimetry (at a resolution of 68,000). ESPaDOnS is offered in QSO mode only. When preparing your proposal, read carefully the notes on ESPaDOnS, Queued Service Observing (QSO), and QSO Phase 1 Tutorial for more details. 

• The KIR upgrade for fast readout has not been completed and is not planned anymore.

• GriF is offered with the Fabry-Perot only. The coronograph mode, long slit mode, and cross-dispersed FP mode are not offered.

• MOS/OSIS and Gecko are not offered this semester. These instruments are however not dismantled, as they are an asset of the Corporation. Any comment on this situation can be addressed to CFHT's Executive Director.

Instrument Availability:

MegaCam (Contact Jean-Charles Cuillandre (jcc -=at=- cfht.hawaii.edu) for more information)

A few guidelines for the 2008B proposals:

• The MegaCam web page provides basic information on the mosaic.
• The filters offered are:
• u*, g', r', i', z' (Sloan set with a better and wider u)
• the CFH12K filters H alpha ON, H alpha OFF, CN, TiO, O III. Note that those filters only cover the central 7x2 chips, with some vignetting on the edges of the field on the E and W edges of the mosaic.
• MegaCam is operated in QUEUED SERVICE OBSERVING (QSO) mode ONLY. Please consult the Queue Scheduling pages for information.
• QSO snapshot programs, i.e. programs with straightforward observations for seeing > 1.2", are particularly encouraged. Those programs are not charged to their respective agency. See the QSO Phase 1 Tutorial for more details.

WIRCam (Contact Loic Albert (albert -=at=- cfht.hawaii.edu) for more information)

WIRCam is a wide field near-infrared camera using a range of narrow and wide band filters. The instrument uses a mosaic of 4 HAWAII-2RG detectors to both guide (on-chip guiding) and acquire science images with a FOV of 21'x21', with gaps of 45''. The pixel scale of 0.3'' slightly undersamples the PSF so a micro-dithering mode is available if the science project requires high spatial resolution. PIs are asked to carefully think about their observing strategy (specifically for sky subtraction) when determining their required integration time.

A few guidelines for the 2008B proposals:

• The WIRCam web page provides basic information on the mosaic.
• The filters offered are: Y, J, H, Ks, CH4 (on and off), LowOH-1, LowOH-2, H2, Kcontinuum and BrGamma. The limitation to at most one filter exchange during the semester remains in force. The SAC will arbitrate filter conflicts between highly ranked proposals, should any occur.
• WIRCam is operated in QUEUED SERVICE OBSERVING (QSO) mode ONLY. Please consult the Queue Scheduling pages for information.
• QSO snapshot programs, i.e. programs with straightforward observations for seeing > 1.2", are particularly encouraged. Those programs are not charged to their respective agency. See the QSO Phase 1 Tutorial for more details.

ESPaDOnS (Contact Nadine Manset (manset -=at=- cfht.hawaii.edu) for more information)

ESPaDOnS is a high-resolution échelle spectrograph/spectropolarimeter fiber-fed from a Cassegrain module including calibration and guiding facilities, as well as an optional polarization analyzer. This instrument offers a complete optical spectrum (from 370 to 1,050 nm) in a single exposure with a resolving power of about 68,000 (by using a slicer in a 3-slice configuration, in spectropolarimetric and 'object+sky' spectroscopic mode) and up to 80,000 (by using the slicer in a 6-slice configuration, in 'object only' spectroscopic mode). This instrument uses CFHT's EEV1 detector (previously used on Gecko).

Observers can use the following modes:

• a spectropolarimetric mode in which the two orthogonal states of a given polarization - either circular (Stokes V) or linear (Stokes Q or U) - are recorded simultaneously (side by side) throughout the whole spectral range at an average spectral resolution of about 68,000
• an object+sky spectroscopic mode in which the spectra of the star and of the background sky are recorded simultaneously (side by side) on the CCD detector with an average spectral resolution of about 68,000
• a object only spectroscopic mode in which only the spectrum from the (bright) star is recorded, at a spectral resolution of 81,000

ESPaDOnS is offered in QSO mode only!

The instrument and its characteristics are described on the CFHT ESPaDOnS webpage. For a general introduction to ESPaDOnS in QSO mode, please consult this page. A detailed QSO tutorial for ESPaDOnS is also available; reading the QSO tutorial is mandatory before submitting a proposal. Note that the time requested is now in hours and not in days.

If you have any question regarding ESPaDOnS in QSO mode, please do not hesitate to contact Nadine Manset (manset -=at=- cfht.hawaii.edu).

PUEO (Contact Olivier Lai (lai -=at=- cfht.hawaii.edu) for more information)

FOCAM is no longer offered.

GriF is offered with the Fabry-Perot only.

Please check the PUEO web page for the latest news on the GrIF implementation. 

Available detectors

CCDs

• EEV1 (ESPaDOns). 2k x 4.5k thin CCD, 13.5 micron pixels. Gain: 1.8 e-/ADU. Noise: 3.143 e-. Fringing in the red, starting at about 6000Å.

IR Detectors

• The KIR camera which incorporates a 1024 x 1024 Rockwell NICMOS chip with 18.5 micron pixels is available for use with AOB

Consult the CFHT Detectors page for more information on the detectors which are currently available.