responding to Image Quality 20 (IQ20), to
better reflect the actual frequency of occurrence. This will have the effect of reducing the
number of IQ20 programs that have aborted
sequences and is intended to increase the
completion rate of such programs.
With an increased focus on visiting instruments (particularly at Gemini North, while
several new instruments come online in
the south; Figure 3) the Working Group discussed how to best ensure that we increase
awareness and promote opportunities
within partner communities to solicit visitor
instruments for Gemini. To this end, the National Gemini Offices will be looking for such
opportunities within their partner countries.
Base-Facility Operations
By the end of 2015, Gemini plans to have
both telescopes operated from their base
facilities in La Serena and Hilo. To safely do
this, a key element is being able to remotely
open the domes and have them automatically close should weather deteriorate —
and to do so autonomously in the event
that the network connection from the base
to the summit is down. A pilot project to do
exactly this is in progress at Gemini South,
with commissioning planned by the end of
April 2014 — ready, in other words, for the
southern winter, where it will help greatly to
be able to confidently open the dome before the night crew arrives at the telescope.
The results of this pilot project will eventually inform what is done in the full Base Facility Operations project, which is now being
managed by Gustavo Arriagada (currently
on the first of a number of extended stays
in Hilo).
Andy Adamson is Gemini’s Associate Director of
Operations and can be contacted at:
[email protected]
Figure 3.
The Gemini North
visiting instrument DSSI
(Differential Speckle
Survey Instrument)
being mounted on the
Instrument Support
Structure of the Gemini
North telescope during
an observing run in 2103.
April 2014
GeminiFocus
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