Contributions by Gemini staff
News for Users
With the start of Semester 2016A, we are recovering from a difficult
2015B at Gemini South. We put that bad semester in context here
by describing the way the queue responds to difficult weather and
instrumentation circumstances. Also in the south, reductions in GPI’s
vibrational signature have resulted in a much better raw wavefront
and a better vibrational environment for the other instruments. We
have also begun the process of replacing the GeMS laser. Elsewhere,
the new Gemini Observatory Archive is off to a good start, and we
give some early usage statistics. Finally, we look back at Australia’s
key contributions during its Partnership with Gemini, which ended in
December 2015.
How the Queue Responds to Adversity
All observatories attempt to complete science programs against a variety of competing
factors: weather, equipment failures, earthquakes, etc. Queue scheduling attempts to preferentially complete programs blessed with the highest science ranking by the Time Allocation Committees (TACs), whatever the competing factors put in the way.
Weather losses, commissionings, earthquakes, and other events in recent years have given
us quite a roller-coaster ride, and it’s interesting to see how queue scheduling (recently the
largest part of the Gemini science program) has responded to these challenges. Here we
look at an exceptional semester (one with good conditions and more science time than
originally planned) and a bad semester (affected by weather and technical problems) and
summarize the results.
14
GeminiFocus
April 2016