team has secured independent funding from
Heising-Simons Foundation (PI Quinn Ko-
nopacky, University of California San Diego)
and the NSF (PI Jeffrey Chilcote, University of
Notre Dame) to upgrade GPI and move it to
Gemini North.
What the Future Holds
The next year — and the next decade — are
shaping up to be transformative for Gemini
Observatory and astronomy as a whole. We
cannot yet know how new discoveries and
facilities will disrupt the way we do and think
about astronomy. Therefore, Gemini Obser-
vatory’s strengths of flexibility, diversity, and
agility will continue to serve us well as we
prepare for the decade of discovery to come.
Over the next several years, we will enhance
our ability to provide efficient and rapid
observations through the development of
updated user interfaces and proposal tools,
automated dynamic scheduling, and the
spectroscopic DRAGONS pipelines. We will
deliver the first MCAO system to Maunakea
by the middle of the next decade, with night-
ly, queue-ready operations. The pathway to
full ground-layer adaptive optics described
in the Astro2020 white paper will signifi-
cantly increase Gemini’s photon-collecting
power by the end of the decade, enabling
unknown discoveries to come.
January 2020
In these early days of 2020, I was happy to see
so many in the US community at what was
my second Gemini Observatory Open House
during the AAS winter meeting in Honolulu,
Hawai‘i. Looking ahead, one of the highlights
of 2020 will undoubtedly be the next Gemini
Science Meeting: “20th Anniversary and Be-
yond,” in Seoul, Korea, from June 21-25, 2019.
Registration is now open, and I can’t wait to
see you all there.
Although the unrest in Chile and protests at
Maunakea have provided challenges for our
staff and to doing science over the past year, I
am grateful for the privilege to be part of our
journey of discovery about the Universe and
for everyone in the Gemini community that
makes that journey possible. Clear skies and
happy new year!
Jennifer Lotz is the Gemini Observatory Director.
She can be reached at: [email protected]
GeminiFocus
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