convened by the National Science Founda-
tion, and then, most recently, by the Gemini
Board of Directors. Still working towards a
starting date of October 1, 2018, the NCOA
team is now one step closer to implementa-
tion, pending final review from the National
Science Board (expected in February 2018).
Between November 9th and 17th, we met
in La Serena with our governance bodies:
first with the Gemini Science and Technol-
ogy Advisory Committee (STAC), followed
by the AURA Oversight Council for Gemini
(AOC-G), and finally the Gemini Board of
Directors; the STAC and Board reports can
be accessed through the Gemini website . I
found the meetings extremely productive,
and feel very fortunate to have committee
members so dedicated and committed to
the Observatory.
A very clear message emerged from these
meetings: adaptive optics (AO) is one of
Gemini’s main strengths, and we need to
capitalize on it. GeMS, in particular, is an
unparalleled world-class facility. The STAC
recommended, and the Board approved,
we explore options to move GeMS to the
North once GHOST and OCTOCAM become
fully operational in the South. This is a bold
suggestion, but one that does make a great
deal of sense, as GHOST and OCTOCAM will
undoubtedly be in high demand, making it
unlikely that GeMS will have the telescope
time required to meet user demands.
Meanwhile, Gemini North is not being fully
exploited, despite the fact that the tele-
scope is built on Maunakea — arguably the
finest site for astronomical research on the
planet. In particular, the AO characteristics
of Maunakea (especially the coherence
time) are unparalleled. Upgrading GeMS,
and moving it to Gemini North, will not
only release some of the pressure Gemini
South will certainly face once LSST opera-
tions start, but also give new purpose and a
clear vision to Gemini on Maunakea.
January 2018
The STAC and Board also strongly validated
the strategic and scientific importance of
Large and Long Programs (LLPs) at Gem-
ini. Starting in Semester 2018B, all Band 1
(non-Target of Opportunity) LLPs will be
guaranteed a minimum 80% completion —
pending satisfactory annual performance
reviews — and will be automatically ex-
tended beyond the end of their nominal al-
location period, if necessary. And, to ensure
that the entire community benefits from
the large time invested in LLPs (almost a full
three years since the start of the 2014B pro-
gram), all Principal Investigators of new LLPs
will be required to deliver fully reduced data
sets to the Observatory.
Finally, a similar desire to ensure maximal
exploitation of Gemini data by the user
community motivated a recommendation
to implement a new data access policy for
Target of Opportunity Programs that com-
pete for the same target (a lesson learned
from the GW170817 campaign); the new
policies can be found here.
I will end this message by announcing our
newest partner: Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev. A two-year Memorandum of Un-
derstanding will allow our Israeli colleagues
to exploit Gemini’s capabilities to study the
high-redshift Universe. A very warm wel-
come to our new partner, and I am looking
forward to a very fruitful collaboration!
Laura Ferrarese is the Gemini Observatory Inter-
im Director. She can be reached at:
[email protected]
GeminiFocus
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