— shared their energy and enthusiasm at
the Gemini North telescope during the past
semester. As described below, Johanna and
Rosemary’s experiences perfectly capture the
spirit and essence of the program. Their impressions, as well as those of the PIs who supported them, reveal the broad impact of their
experiences on our staff.
Steve Howell, Project Scientist for NASA’s Kepler and K2 MIssions, and PI for the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI), tapped
into Gemini’s new Bring One, Get One program to support Johanna in a visit to Gemini
North during the recent DSSI visiting instrument run in July 2014. That run proved to be
extremely successful; the data acquired with
the instrument helped to show that at least
half of all exoplanet host stars are binary. Johanna was there to participate in the process
and share in the excitement first-hand.
Howell points out that the Bring One, Get
One program “comes at a time when many
young astronomers have little to no experience actually using a telescope.” Lamenting
the closure of several national observatories,
Howell adds that this situation leaves students with few opportunities to go to real
telescopes and experience the collecting, reducing, and analysis of data. Which, he comments, “is a fundamental learning experience
for a scientist.”
Johanna found that her visit not only provided her with an opportunity to experience
real-life observing but to also interact and
network with the DSSI team more deeply, especially during periods of bad weather.
“It was frustrating that we lost some time due
to bad weather,” she says, “but during those
times, I got to know the other DSSI team
members pretty well. They are full of good
advice and interesting ideas about science
and science careers.”
Following shortly on the heels of Johanna’s
visit, Rosemary Pike, who previously worked as
October 2014
a Science Operations Specialist at Gemini, returned as a Bring One, Get One visiting student
with the COLOSSOS (COLours for the Outer Solar System Object Survey) program team, one
of the many ongoing observations in Gemini’s
new Large and Long programs mode.
“This was another successful observing run,”
says head of Gemini North’s science operations Sandy Leggett. “It was very gratifying to
get an email after the run from the PI with the
subject line: Your Staff are Awesome!”
Rosemary Pike
(center, foreground),
with part of the
COLOSSOS team,
including the Large
and Long program PI
Wes Fraser (left) and
Michelle Bannister
(right) during their
observing run at
Gemini North.
Rosemary, who spent a total of seven nights
either at the telescope or operating remotely
from the Hilo Base Facility, said that her previous experiences at Gemini North were especially helpful in “easing the transition into
observing my own programs.” Nevertheless,
she adds, “it was still very challenging to run
the Queue and the team’s Large and Long
program for seven nights.”
Gemini encourages all visiting PIs to consider
the Bring One, Get One opportunity for their
students. “This is a commitment we are making to the future of our science,” says Leggett.
To other young, budding astronomers, Johanna advises, “Take this opportunity while
you can. The benefit is orders of magnitude
greater than the effort it takes to apply.”
Peter Michaud leads Gemini’s Public Information and Outreach Office and can be reached at:
[email protected]
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