helium cooling lines, maintenance on acquisi-
tion and guiding systems, and maintenance
on the Cassegrain rotator systems. Instrument
work included FLAMINGOS-2 at Gemini South,
and GMOS, Altair, and the Gemini Near-Infra-
Red Spectrometer at Gemini North. Part of
the MAROON-X team also joined our crew on
Maunakea to install the instrument’s Front End
in preparation for its commissioning over the
next few months.
Impact of Maunakea Conflict
Prior to the engineering shutdown, Gemini
North had an unplanned four-week shutdown
as a result of Thirty Meter Telescope protests
blocking the Maunakea Access Road. Al-
though we are glad to be back in operations
now, that lost time resulted in a significant
detrimental impact on the science of Gemini
Observatory. Approximately two weeks of ob-
serving were lost during this time, impacting
at least 11 different high-priority science pro-
grams which would have obtained data. The
adversely affected science ranges from the
Solar System to distant quasars, including four
time-critical programs.
Two of these time-critical Gemini programs
involved supporting observations for NASA’s
Juno mission at Jupiter; by the time these ob-
servations could be attempted again, Jupiter
will no longer be favorably placed for ground-
based observations. Additionally, we had
planned to recoat our 8-meter primary mir-
ror as part of our engineering shutdown; we
decided to defer this activity until next year,
which will take Gemini North offline for an ad-
ditional week in 2020.
This has been an exceptionally challenging
time for the Gemini North staff, our colleagues
at the other Maunakea observatories, and for
all those who live on the Big Island. It can be
difficult to appreciate the nuances and various
perspectives of all those directly impacted by
the conflict on Maunakea, even for those who
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have lived most of their lives in Hawai‘i. This is
truly a community divided by different views
about what is the best path forward for their
future; the Gemini Observatory staff are part
of that community and live this conflict ev-
ery day. I’m grateful for our staff's continued
dedication and professionalism, and for the
time I’ve spent in Hawai‘i supporting our staff
and our mission. I am also incredibly proud of
the work that Gemini does to provide oppor-
tunities and educational support to our local
communities. I continue to hope for a peace-
ful resolution that recognizes the history of
the Hawaiian people and the positive impact
of Maunakea astronomy on the community of
Hawai‘i and the world.
Looking Ahead
Progress towards Gemini’s revitalized instru-
ment suite continues to march forward at
a rapid pace. At the end of September, the
NSF awarded AURA/Gemini Observatory the
second half of the funding for a total of $26
million for the Gemini in the Era of Multi-
Messenger Astronomy (GEMMA) program.
The conceptual design for a state-of-the-art
multi-conjugate adaptive optics (AO) system
at Gemini North (GNAO) was reviewed by an
external panel of experts in Hilo on September
26-27, an important milestone for the GEMMA
program. The Request for Proposals to build
the GNAO first light imager (GNAOI) was re-
leased in August, with a deadline on Novem-
ber 1st (view here).
The visiting Gemini InfraRed Multi-Object
Spectrograph (GIRMOS) held its Conceptual
Design Review in mid-September. Its instru-
ment team, led by Suresh Sivanandam of the
University of Toronto, is being funded through
a Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
award. All of these instruments are planned for
delivery at Gemini North in 2024-2025.
Nearer term, the high-resolution capabilities
at Gemini are set to expand dramatically in
October 2019