SOFIA Session at the June AAS & TEXES Proposal Opportunity 


1. SOFIA Splinter Session at the Indianapolis AAS meeting, June 5, 2013
2. TEXES Proposal Opportunity is due March 28, 2013



1. SOFIA Splinter Session at the Indianapolis AAS meeting, June 5, 2013
Date and Time: Wednesday, June 5, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
Location: Room 110, Indiana Convention Center 

We will hold a splinter session, "SOFIA: Mission Update, Science
Highlights, and Cycle 2 Observing" during the AAS 2013 summer meeting in
Indianapolis, 2013. SOFIA's Early Science observation program with
participation from the general scientific community was completed at the
end of 2011, followed by a period of extensive upgrading of mission
systems.  The observatory is conducing its first full cycle of science
observations during calendar year 2013.

Early Science observations obtained with the FORCAST mid-IR camera were
published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters special SOFIA issue in April
2012, and science results from the GREAT far-IR heterodyne spectrometer
were published as a special issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics in May 2012.
SOFIA/FORCAST images of the Milky Way Galaxy's circumnuclear gas and dust
ring and of a neighboring cluster of extremely luminous young stars
embedded in dust cocoons were presented in January 2013 at the 221st AAS
meeting in Long Beach, Calif.

In this Splinter Session we will present information about SOFIA's mission
status, recent science highlights, and the Cycle 2 observing proposal
opportunity. The Cycle 2 proposal due date will be at the end of June,
2013. Instruments available for Cycle 2 observations are: (1) HIPO optical
high-speed photometer, (2) FLITECAM near-IR camera with grisms, (3)
combination of FLITECAM with HIPO ("FLIPO"), (4) FORCAST mid-IR camera with
grisms, and (5) GREAT far-IR heterodyne spectrometer. The EXES mid-IR
spectrometer and the FIFI-LS far-IR imaging spectrometer will also be
available in shared-risk mode. Further information about these instruments
and capabilities available for Cycle 2 observations will be presented
during this session, and necessary software tools to answer the proposal
call will be demonstrated. Future opportunities to propose upgrades of
current instruments and to develop new instruments will also be discussed.

More information about SOFIA and current mission activities are available
at the SOFIA Science Center website: http://www.sofia.usra.edu/




2.  TEXES Proposal Opportunity is due March 28 

Potential users of EXES, the SOFIA mid-IR high-resolution spectrograph,
should note that TEXES, a very similar instrument, will be offered as a
visitor instrument on Gemini in 2013B.  TEXES formed the basis for the EXES
design and features R~80,000 cross-dispersed as well as R~15,000 and R~4000
long slit modes.  As anticipated for EXES, TEXES can observe in "nod" mode
and a mapping mode.  TEXES on the Gemini-North 8m will provide higher
spatial resolution and sensitivity at wavelengths with reasonable
atmospheric transmission from Mauna Kea compared to EXES on SOFIA. 

Investigators should carefully consider whether their programs can be done
from Mauna Kea or need SOFIA's access to wavelengths blocked from the
ground, or both sources to reach science goals. Proposals are due March 28.
Information regarding TEXES on Gemini is available at
http://www.gemini.edu/sciops/instruments/texes-north.

If interested in using TEXES on Gemini or on the NASA IRTF 3m, please contact
one of the following people:

John Lacy (lacy@astro.as.utexas.edu)
Matt Richter (richter@physics.ucdavis.edu)
Tommy Greathouse (tgreathouse@swri.edu)