same time (Sivanandam et al., Proc. SPIE,
2018). It accomplishes this by exploiting the
adaptive optics (AO) correction from both
a telescope-based AO system (either the
Gemini Multi-conjugate adaptive optics Sys-
tem (GeMS) or the prospective Gemini North
AO system) and its own additional Multiple-
Object Adaptive Optics system that feeds
four 1- to 2.4-micron integral field spectro-
graphs (R ~ 3,000 and 8,000) that can each
observe an object independently within a 2
arcminute field of view.
and current telescope operations. We are
very excited about working with the team on
this cutting-edge new capability for Gemini,
and we look forward to a fruitful collabora-
tion over the next few years!
MAROON-X Front End
Commissioning
GIRMOS is being designed and built by a
Canadian consortium of universities led by
the University of Toronto and the National
Research Council-Herzberg Institute of As-
tronomy and Astrophysics. The GIRMOS
project is just getting underway, and Gemini
staff were invited to participate in the Kick-
off Meeting on December 4-5 at the Dunlap
Institute in Toronto, Canada (Figure 3). The
meeting was extremely productive, with
discussions on science cases, capabilities,
schedules, and responsibilities as we move
into the conceptual design phase. MAROON-X is a radial velocity spectrograph
being built at the University of Chicago,
which is expected to have the capability to
detect Earth-size planets in the habitable
zones of mid- to late-M dwarf stars using the
radial velocity method. The instrument is a
high-resolution, bench-mounted spectro-
graph designed to deliver 1 meter/second
radial velocity precision for M dwarfs down
to and beyond V = 16. In order for MAROON-
X to come to Gemini as a visiting instrument,
the team had to construct a Front End that
would fit on the bottom instrument port at
Gemini North, while holding the fiber that
runs down to the spectrograph located in
the Pier Lab below.
In January, members of the GIRMOS team
will come to Chile to participate in GeMS ob-
serving to learn more about the AO system This Front End unit recently arrived in
Hawai‘i, and was installed on the telescope
for testing in December. The commissioning
Figure 3.
GIRMOS Prinicipal
Investigator Suresh
Sivanandam (right)
with Kick-off Meeting
participants.
Credit: University of Toronto
16
GeminiFocus
January 2019