Gemini staff contributions
On the Horizon
Several exciting milestones for a variety of upcoming and visiting
instruments were realized in late 2018. Gemini will be hosting
an Open House and several other events at the 233rd annual
American Astronomical Society Meeting. A contract has been
finalized to return integral field unit capabilities to GNIRS. And
progress continues with two visiting instruments: the GIRMOS
project got underway with a Kick-Off Meeting in Toronto,
Canada; and MAROON-X’s Front End recently arrived in Hawai‘i,
where it underwent successful on-sky commissioning.
GEMMA: Leading in the Era of Multi-Messenger
and Time-Domain Astronomy
With the recent announcement of the National Sci-
ence Foundation (NSF) award, Gemini in the Era
of Multi-Messenger Astronomy (GEMMA), work is
ramping up to produce the exciting deliverables
promised over the next five years. GEMMA updates
will be a regular feature in this column for the dura-
tion of the program.
The goals of GEMMA are broad and encompass di-
verse capabilities for Gemini – from instrumentation,
real time software and data reduction pipelines, to
public communications. The primary instrumentation capability envisioned with GEMMA
is a new state-of-the-art multi-conjugate adaptive optics system for Gemini North called
GNAO. Additional details on the GEMMA program can be found in this issue’s Director’s
Message starting on page 1 of this issue.
January 2019
GeminiFocus
Figure 1.
The GEMMA logo
incorporates an ancient
astronomical instrument
known as Gemma’s rings.
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