TolTEC FAQs

TolTEC is installed on the LMT and is in its commissioning phase. News and updates about the TolTEC camera can be found on the TolTEC News webpage. 

Information about the TolTEC Legacy Surveys can be found on the TolTEC Public Legacy Survey webpage.

The general science areas for the four initial TolTEC Legacy surveys can be found on the TolTEC Public Legacy Survey webpage.

There are no restrictions on targets, but the review committees will be aware of the legacy survey targets and commissioning targets, so any proposed observations should be different enough to be justified. If there is a field you are interested in, and you think there is another observation you can do that will extend the data already being taken, then you should propose for those targets. The Legacy Survey and commissioning data will be publicly available once it is reduced and passes our internal quality review.

Time calculators and information about expected instrument characteristics can be found on the Observing with TolTEC webpage. The ObsPlanner is a useful tool for planning TolTEC observations.

The smallest map we can make is around 5’. The LMT has a FOV of 4’ and TolTEC fills the focal plane. But since we have to scan with TolTEC then it broadens the field out to around 5’. For observing time and sensitivity, please use the TolTEC ObsPlanner.

Yes, polarization is available for the 2024-S1 call. However, the half-wave plate rotator and half-wave plate that are necessary for these observations have not been commissioned yet. Therefore, users should keep in mind that we are still learning how to use these tools when planning observations.