GeminiFocus January 2014 | Page 2

1 Director’s Message Kissler-Patig Markus 3 Weighing the Black Hole in M101 ULX-1 Stephen Justham and Jifeng Liu 8 World’s Most Powerful Planet Finder Turns its Eye to the Sky: First Light with the Gemini Planet Imager Bruce Macintosh and Peter Michaud 12 Science Highlights Nancy A. Levenson 15 Operations Corner: Update and 2013 Review Andy Adamson 20 Instrumentation Development: Update and 2013 Review Scot Kleinman on the cover: The cover of this issue features first light images from the Gemini Planet Imager that were released at the January 2014 meeting of the American Astronomical Society held in Washington, D.C. See the press release that accompanied the images starting on page 8 of this issue. GeminiFocus January 2014 GeminiFocus is a quarterly publication of Gemini Observatory 670 N. A‘ohoku Place, Hilo, Hawai‘i 96720 USA Phone: (808) 974-2500 Fax: (808) 974-2589 Online viewing address: www.gemini.edu/geminifocus Managing Editor: Peter Michaud Science Editor: Nancy A. Levenson Associate Editor: Stephen James O’Meara Designer: Eve Furchgott / Blue Heron Multimedia Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.