Meanwhile , in Chile , similarly inspiring activities took place during the week of March 16th . More than 3,000 people participated in AstroDay Chile 2018 , an event that includes science workshops , lectures , career panels and , last but not least , a massive star party . And at this point I cannot help but mention , with some amount of pride , although I can take no credit whatsoever for any of it , that both Journey Through the Universe and AstroDay Chile are coordinated by the exceptional staff of the Gemini Observatory ’ s Public Information and Outreach ( PIO ) Office : Alexis , Christine , Dalma , Fernanda , Janice , Jason , Joy , Manuel , Peter , and Xiaoyu , along with current Gemini North PIO interns Hannah and Jasmin . Their dedication , and the dedication of all those who participate in Journey and AstroDay , is one of the many factors that make Gemini , and all observatories , so much more than mere places of employment . See pictures from this year ’ s Journey and AstroDay programs starting on page 21 of this issue .
Moving to instrumentation , the big news is the arrival , at Gemini South , of the Cassegrain assembly for our next facility instrument , GHOST . The assembly , built by our colleagues at the Anglo Australian Observatory , was successfully tested at the beginning of February . We are now eagerly anticipating the arrival of the actual spectrograph , built in Canada by the National Research Council-Herzberg , and scheduled for delivery in the late spring of 2019 .
For OCTOCAM , the next milestone , the Preliminary Design Review , will take place on April 4-5 at Southwest Research Institute headquarters in San Antonio , Texas . Meanwhile , Massimo Robberto , from the Space
Telescope Science Institute , has joined the project as Principal Investigator , and we at Gemini are very much looking forward to working with Massimo and the rest of the OCTOCAM team to bring this exciting instrument to Gemini in time for the start of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope ( LSST ) operations .
And finally , some big news on the National Center for Optical-infrared Astronomy ( NCOA , working name ) front : on February 22nd , the U . S . National Science Board endorsed the NCOA plan and recommended its implementation . NCOA , as you might remember , calls for the integration , within a single matrixed structure , of the operations of the current Gemini and National Optical Astronomy Observatory facilities with the future operations of LSST . NCOA will facilitate collaborations and partnerships and , critically , will provide opportunities for innovation that are presently beyond the scope and capacity of the individual centers . The National Science Board ’ s endorsement was the last of a long series of reviews for NCOA , all of which it passed successfully . NCOA is now moving full steam ahead , with a planned start date of October 2018 .
All of this — the outreach activities , the instrumentation , NCOA — is done for a single purpose : the advancement of science . But for that , I will leave you to the expert and eloquent commentary of our Chief Scientist , John Blakeslee , who highlights many of the recent science highlights from Gemini starting on page 8 of this issue .
2 GeminiFocus April 2018
Meanwhile, in Chile, similarly inspiring ac-
tivities took place during the week of March
16th. More than 3,000 people participated
in AstroDay Chile 2018, an event that in-
cludes science workshops, lectures, career
panels and, last but not least, a massive
star party. And at this point I cannot help
but mention, with some amount of pride,
although I can take no credit whatsoever
for any of it, that both Journey Through the
Universe and AstroDay Chile are coordinat-
ed by the exceptional staff of the Gemini
Observatory’s Public Information and Out-
reach (PIO) Office: Alexis, Christine, Dalma,
Fernanda, Janice, Jason, Joy, Manuel, Pe-
ter, and Xiaoyu, along with current Gemini
North PIO interns Hannah and Jasmin. Their
dedication, and the dedication of all those
who participate in Journey and AstroDay, is
one of the many factors that make Gemini,
and all observatories, so much more than
mere places of employment. See pictures
from this year’s Journey and AstroDay pro-
grams starting on page 21 of this issue.
Moving to instrumentation, the big news is
the arrival, at Gemini South, of the Casseg-
rain assembly for our next facility instru-
ment, GHOST. The assembly, built by our
colleagues at the Anglo Australian Obser-
vatory, was successfully tested at the be-
ginning of February. We are now eagerly
anticipating the arrival of the actual spec-
trograph, built in Canada by the National
Research Council-Herzberg, and scheduled
for delivery in the late spring of 2019.
For OCTOCAM, the next milestone, the Pre-
liminary Design Review, will take place on
April 4-5 at Southwest Research Institute
headquarters in San Antonio, Texas. Mean-
while, Massimo Robberto, from the Space
2
GeminiFocus
Telescope Science Institute, has joined the
project as Principal Investigator, and we at
Gemini are very much looking forward to
working with Massimo and the rest of the
OCTOCAM team to bring this exciting in-
strument to Gemini in time for the start of
the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)
operations.
And finally, some big news on the Nation-
al Center for Optical-infrared Astronomy
(NCOA, working name) front: on February
22nd, the U.S. National Science Board en-
dorsed the NCOA plan and recommended
its implementation. NCOA, as R֖vB&RЦV&W"62f"FRFVw&FvF6vRG&VB7G'V7GW&RbFRW&F0bFR7W'&VBvV֖BFF67G&ג'6W'fF'f6ƗFW2vFFPgWGW&RW&F2b55B4vf6ƒЧFFR6&&F2B'FW'62B7&F6ǒv&fFR'GVFW2f"ЦfFFB&R&W6VFǒ&WBFP66RB66GbFRFfGV6VЧFW'2FRF66V6R&&N( 2VF'6RЦVBv2FR7Bbr6W&W2b&WfWw0f"4bv6B76VB7V66W76gVǒ42rfrgV7FVVBvFVB7F'BFFRb7F&W"#bF2( BFRWG&V67FfFW2FRЧ7G'VVFF4( B2FRf"6vPW'6SFRGf6VVBb66V6R'[email protected]f"FBvVfRRFFRWW'B@VVVB6VF'bW"6Vb66VЧF7B&W6VRvvƖvG2`FR&V6VB66V6RvƖvG2g&vV֖搧7F'FrvRbF277VRW&fW'&&W6R2FRvV֖'6W'fF'FW&F&V7F"6R6&R&V6VBCfW'&&W6TvV֖VGP&#