For 2014B, the Phase II process for
non-U.S. partners will also change in
the following manner: Support for a
given PI’s program will be provided by
a specialist in their selected observing
mode, in some cases not located in
the PI’s home NGO. Support by a “second pair of eyes” will be provided both
within the Observatory and by an NGO
member at the PI’s home NGO.
Gemini Planet Imager
Figure 3.
Gemini Staff scientists
Kathy Roth (left) and
Kristin Chiboucas
(right) assist in
observations at
Gemini South (led by
German Gimeno) using
GMOS with its new,
extended-sensitivity
Hamamatsu CCDs
from the Gemini North
Base Facility. Gemini
South observing staff
in La Serena, Chile, and
at the summit of Cerro
Pachón, are visible on
the screen at top.
14
They will also free up much-needed time for
Gemini personnel to better support the later
stages of the science program lifecycle —
through to publication. For various reasons,
these changes will come in stages and will
differ from partner to partner.
The biggest single development in 2014B
is that PIs in the United States will be supported in the Phase II preparation by Gemini
staff astronomers, who will see U.S. programs
through the entire process — from Phase II
to execution on the telescope. A U.S. National
Gemini Office (NGO) member will act as consultant to the Gemini staff astronomer; this
NGO person will in most cases be the same
one who carried out the technical assessment of the proposal. The U.S. NGO staff are
also ready to support programs themselves
should this prove necessary. This arrangement is a prelude to the U.S. NGO staff taking
up other work, such as the writing of datareduction cookbooks, etc.
GeminiFocus
The commissioning of GPI continues
with the most recent success being a
six-night run in May. Immediately following the run, the summit crew dismounted the instrument from the Instrument Support Structure (ISS) and
relocated it to the Instrumentation
Test Room for a final round of software improvements. GPI goes back
on the ISS after the August Gemini
South shutdown and preparations will
proceed for the final commissioning run currently scheduled from August 30th until September 4th. The GPI Campaign is expected to
begin in November.
Operationally, the 2014B programs are now
in Phase II and the latest version of the Observing Tool has GPI skeletons implemented.
These skeletons allow a one-click approach
to have fully-defined observations. A total of
12 GPI science programs now exist; requiring
72 hours of telescope time.
For many involved in the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), recent efforts have concentrated
on preparation for the SPIE 2014 conference
in Montréal in which GPI had a huge presence. The extended GPI team delivered almost 20 presentations on various aspects of
the instrument. See all Gemini-related SPIE
abstracts here.
July 2014