well justified. Cross your fingers that no unexpected delays hit us in the next six months at
Gemini South.
The Gemini North telescope is no less busy:
the shutdown for the recoating of the primary mirror (occurring every 4-5 years) is scheduled for September, and two instruments will
be visiting Gemini North during the secondhalf of this year. In July, the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (Steve Howell, NASAAmes Research Center, Principal Investigator)
and in October the Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph (John Lacy, University of
Texas, PI) will both be available for limited
runs. Gemini’s strengthening visiting instrument program has found great resonance in
the community!
Finally, our (numerous) advisory and oversight committees have met in April and May
(see text on sidebar at right and figure on
the next page for an overview of Gemini’s
oversight committees and governance). The
full reports of these meetings are, as usual,
public and appear on our web pages. Three
resolutions are worth highlighting: Gemini
will soon launch opportunities for its community to prop