Program: GN-2011B-Q-111

This is a poor weather proposal for GNIRS cross-dispersed spectroscopy of 22 Seyferts, LINERs and transition objects from the Palomar galaxy sample. The spectra will advance our knowledge of AGN physics and lifecycles by demonstrating whether the accretion disk and nuclear dust properties change as a function of accretion rate, as predicted by theoretical models. They will be used to investigate the contribution of evolved stars to the line emission in LINERs, with implications for AGN demographics, and to make new stellar kinematic measurements for black hole mass estimates. The number and variety of spectral features that will appear in the data are expected to enable a wide range of science besides that highlighted in this proposal. The proposed sample complements a larger sample proposed for 2012A and will help the team optimise the observing strategy and prepare data reduction and analysis tools. The fairly short observations are easily scheduled and can be carried out in suboptimal observing conditions.