Semester 2018B Outcomes
We’re now in the thick of Semester 2019A
and taking stock of the outcome of 18B. Pre-
liminary completion results for programs
in the regular queue (in other words, ex-
cluding Targets of Opportunity and block-
scheduled instrument modes) are shown
in Figure 8. Band 1 programs at both sites
fared rather well, three quarters of them
reaching 100% completion. In the North,
Band 3, which typically takes the more re-
laxed observing conditions, fared relatively
worse — another reflection of the fact that
18B was better than either of the preceding
B semesters in Hawai‘i.
In the South, the completion rate was better
than it has been for many semesters, thanks
to a healthy percentage of stable, good
conditions despite the loss of five nights to
a major earthquake in January 2019. Note
that in 18B we took data on the last of the
traditional “rollover” programs; from now
on, regular queue Band 1 programs (except
Target of Opportunities, Fast Turnaround,
Director’s Discretionary, and Large and Long
Programs) have one semester of “persis-
tence,” and so some of those will continue to
accumulate data as we continue into 2019A.
Gemini North Survives Wild
Weather
As we reported in our recent e-newscast, on
February 10, 2019, a low-pressure system
(Figure 9, next page) subjected Maunakea
to some of the highest wind speeds ever
recorded. While there’s reason to be skepti-
Figure 8.
For Gemini South
(upper) and Gemini
North (lower) the
completion histogram
for Semester 2018B.
Horizontal axis
shows the program
completion in 10%
bins, and vertically the
colored bars show the
fraction of programs
in Bands 1, 2, and 3,
which reached that
completion percentage.
Main features are
described in the text.
Credit: Andy Adamson
January 2020 / 2019 Year in Review
GeminiFocus
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