2013B semester. The review will take a close
look at the performance and operability of F2
in its present state with respect to successfully operating, maintaining, and supporting
F2 as a facility-class Gemini instrument, and
delivering the expected scientific return to
the Gemini community. Feedback from users
with early science data will be an important
part of the review. The committee will also
assess the remaining work going forward,
including addressing the image quality and
commissioning the powerful multi-object
spectroscopy (MOS) mode.
FLAMINGOS-2 is offered to the community
again in long-slit and imaging modes for the
2014A semester.
— Bernadette Rodgers
GeMS/GSAOI Moving Toward
More Robust Operations
By the last quarter of 2013, we hope to have
dramatically changed the way we operate
the Gemini Multi-conjugate adaptive optics
System (GeMS). GeMS has been producing
science since late 2012 when the first System
Verification (SV) observations occurred. This
led to the writing of the first refereed journal
article that includes GeMS data (“Haffner 16:
A Young Moving Group in the Making,” Davidge et al., to appear in The Publications of
the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, see Science Highlights on page 12 of this issue).
In 2013A, Gemini first offered GeMS to our
user community for shared risk queue-based
science. Now, in 2013B, the GeMS team is
working to make it an operational queue instrument available to all Gemini users as part
of normal operations. The major difficulty is
that GeMS is an extremely complex instrument — in fact, GeMS has more wavefront
sensors (12) than the total number of wavefront sensors the Observatory typically uses
for all other science instruments combined
at both sites (11). Adding to this complexity
October2013
is the nightly logistical overhead of clearing
targets with the U.S. Space Command (for
laser propagation), which must be done several days before observations are made. In
addition, aircraft spotters are necessary to
ensure the safety of the many civilian aircraft
flying above Cerro Pachón every night.
The second key element in this effort will be
the upcoming GeMS operational Acceptance
Review (AR) in November. The AR will clearly
define the extra support personnel and tasks
needed prior to each GeMS run to ensure
the instrument is ready for science. This effort will include members of many groups
across Gemini — Science Operations, Optical
Systems, Electronics and Instrumentation,
Systems Engineering, Software, Information
Systems, and, of course, the Adaptive Optics
group — and demand that they work in a coordinated manner.
In addition, the AR will stress that every successful night of GeMS operation requires
careful communication between the telescope operator, observer, laser technician,
adaptive optics group support, and laser
spotters. The key to a successful transition to
routine queue operations of GeMS is communication between all of these highly technically savvy individuals.
We also expect the AR to document key performance metrics and identify areas where
improvements can be made in 2014 and beyond. As we transition to queue operations,
the roles and communications defined in the
AR will allow Gemini to navigate a clear path
to state-of-the-art adaptive optics success.
During the Chilean winter in June and July,
many hardware and software improvements
were made to the GeMS system, including
the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager
(GSAOI, the science camera behind GeMS),
the laser used to produce the artificial guide
stars, and Canopus (the adaptive optics instrument itself). These improvements were
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