APRIL 2019
GEMMA’s Out of the
Gate
In the new year, the Gemini
in the Era of Multi-Messen-
ger Astronomy (GEMMA)
program is off to a good
start. Gemini North Adap-
tive Optics (GNAO) Principal
Investigator Gaetano Sivo
formed an external Gemini
AO working group to pro-
vide community experience
and expertise regarding the
Observatory’s AO program,
including developing sci-
ence cases, technical rec-
ommendations, and best
practices. The Real Time
Computer project is performing some tech-
nology trade studies and considering wheth-
er some components can be designed and
built in-house.
The time-domain astronomy (TDA) project
is also moving along, convening a working
group to review user stories related to the
concept of operations. In addition, Public
Information and Outreach plans to hold a
Time-Domain Astronomy Summit later this
year; the goal is to bring together scientists
and communications and education profes-
sionals to create a roadmap on how to com-
municate the concepts of MMA and TDA to
non-scientists. The program continues to de-
fine short- and long-term benefits of the in-
dividual projects to the future of Observatory
operations and the astronomy community.
Dave Palmer has joined the team to work as
Project Manager for both the GNAO and RTC
GEMMA efforts. He will be working with Act-
ing GNAO Project Manger Stephen Goodsell
during the Conceptual Design Stage, allow-
ing Stephen to step back from the role after
the Conceptual Design Review.
January 2020 / 2019 Year in Review
Preparations for MAROON-X
MAROON-X is the new radial velocity spec-
trograph being built at the University of
Chicago and expected to be deployed at
Gemini North within the next year (Figure
15). This high-resolution, bench-mounted
spectrograph has been designed to deliver
1 meter/second radial velocity precision for
M dwarfs down to and beyond V = 16, and
is expected to have the capability to detect
Earth-size planets in the habitable zones us-
ing the radial velocity method.
Figure 15.
Computer-aided design
rendering of the vacuum
chamber and cameras on
the MAROON-X bench.
The actual spectrograph
is expected to arrive at
Gemini North in May.
Following the success of the Front End com-
missioning, we are planning to install and
align the spectrograph in the dedicated en-
closure in the Pier Lab in May 2019. If all goes
well, we hope to complete commissioning
in time to include this exciting new visiting
instrument in the 2020A Call for Proposals.
Watch this space for more information as in-
tegration and commissioning progresses on
Maunakea.
GeminiFocus
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