Observing with GREGOR
Observing Plan 2026
The GREGOR observing plan for the first half of 2026:
| PI | Time Share | Dates |
| C. Denker | AIP | 04/14 - 04/22 |
| S. Gonzalez Manrique | IAC | 04/23 - 04/27 |
| Atul Bhat | KIS | 04/28 - 05/05 |
| S. Castellanos Duran | MPS | 05/06 - 05/12 |
| I. Milic | KIS | 05/13 - 05/17 |
| I. Zivanovic | KIS | 05/18 - 05/22 |
| Fang | KIS | 05/23 - 06/01 |
| C. Denker | KIS | 06/02 - 06/10 |
| J. C. Trelles Arjona | IAC | 06/21 - 06/25 |
| R. Oliver | IAC | 06/26 - 07/01 |
| R. Oliver | KIS | 07/02 - 07/06 |
| I. Bonilla Mariana | IAC | 07/07 - 07/11 |
| A. Vicente Aravelo | KIS | 07/12 - 07/19 |
| Asai | KIS | 07/20 - 07/24 |
| M. H. Rivero Gonzalez | KIS | 07/25 - 08/03 |
Observing Period 2026B (September - December 2026)
GREGOR Observing Time Allocation Procedure
Observing time at GREGOR is allocated by the KIS TAC for the German KIS time, the Spanish TAC for the 20% Spanish time, and the EAST TAC for the 5% of the International Time Programme. More detail on the TAC procedures below. The deadline for proposals for observing campaigns in the first semester of 2026B is 10 July 2026. The period for scientific observations is from September until December 2026.
GREGOR Observing Proposal Template 2026B:
For the German KIS time and the International Time Programme (ITP/CCI) use the following LaTeX template:
For Spanish time, see below. For questions on the 2025B Observing Campaign please contact Rolf Schlichenmaier via schliche@leibniz-kis.de.
The following instruments are offered in 2026B:
GRIS: Not available in 2026B.
HiFIplus: The upgraded High-resolution Fast Imager (HiFI+) consists of three camera control computers with two synchronized sCMOS cameras each. HiFI+ offers near-diffraction limited imaging at high cadence in six spectral windows: Ca II H, G-band, blue continuum, broad- and narrow-band H-alpha, and TiO. Dichroic beamsplitters splitting at 650 nm and 740 nm can be selected. With the 650 nm beamsplitter, H alpha is in Slit Jaw of GRIS. With the 740 nm beamsplitter, Halpha and TiO@707nm can be observed with HiFIplus (and is not visible in SlitJaw).
Download the HiFIplus Manual, the HiFI observing checklist, and the HiFIplus instrument paper.
New off-limb AO: GREGOR has a new AO mode (H-alpha-AO) which allows locking the AO off-limb on prominences (if the prominence shape permits). This is offered to all users in 2026.
ZIMPOL: In collaboration with IRSOL, high-precision spectropolarimetric observations with the ZIMPOL polarimeter are offered in service mode for projects requiring a short observing time (up to a few hours). Observations are carried using the GRIS spectrograph in slit mode, two slit-jaw cameras, and standard AO (H-alpha-AO in testing phase). In combination with the GREGOR Slow Polarization Modulator (GSPM), the ZIMPOL setup is particularly well suited for measuring polarimetric signals with precision and accuracy down to 0.001 %, such as produced in the quiet photosphere near the solar limb by scattering and modified by the Hanle effect. The available spectral range is 4250 Å - 6800 Å, and the spectral window is a few Angstroms (depending on order and wavelength), the polarimetric precision is about 10-5, the pixel scale is 0.32 arcsec/pixel, the area covered by the camera is 43.6 (±0.4) arcsec, and the slit width 0.26 (±0.02) arcsec (70 µm). Contact: Andrea Battaglia - battaan@usi.ch
Manuals
Manual Server at OT.
Access options for GREGOR observations
German KIS time
The international community is invited to apply for the German KIS observing time. Collaborations with experienced KIS observer(s) is encouraged.
Contact Rolf Schlichenmaier via kis_tac@~@leibniz-kis.de for more information. To apply for KIS observing time send the filled-out proposal template (see above) to kis_tac@~@leibniz-kis.de.
CCI International Time Programme (ITP)
5% of the GREGOR telescope time is reserved for international access. The observing time is assigned by the EAST TAC. For ITP time, multi-national and/or multi-telescope applications are prefered. Submit the proposal template (see above) to east_tac@astro.su.se. Contact Dan Kiselman (dan@astro.su.se) for more information.
Spanish time (Solar CAT)
See www.iac.es/OOCC/solar-cat/ for more information. According to international agreements, 20% of the observing time is reserved for assignment by the Spanish solar CAT. Presently, there are no restrictions on nationality to apply for GREGOR time through the solar CAT. Application at www.iac.es/OOCC/solar-cat/.
Acknowledgement and citations
Please acknowledge the use of GREGOR and of data from GREGOR as follows:
The 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope was built by a German consortium under the leadership of the Institute for Solar Physics (KIS) in Freiburg with the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, the Institute for Astrophysics Göttingen, and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen as partners, and with contributions by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The redesign of the GREGOR AO and instrument distribution optics was carried out by KIS whose technical staff is gratefully acknowledged.
The following publications should be cited when referring to GREGOR:
- Schmidt et al. 2012, AN 333/9, 796, and relevant instrument papers in AN 333/9,
- Kleint et al. 2020, A&A 641, A27