Gemini North Hurricane Madeline Update
Gemini North operations will be affected by Hurricane Madeline. Hawai‘i Island is currently under a Hurricane Warning as of 11AM, Tuesday, August 30th.
Tropical Storm Darby
Tropical Storm Darby will affect the Big Island starting on Friday evening, and will likely continue to impact the Big Island through Sunday. Gemini North will be closed Friday night through Sunday night. The Gemini North datacenter will be offline from Friday at 5pm HST until conditions improve. Web content will be available via the Gemini South mirror.
Gemini Strategic Vision Survey now open
The Gemini Observatory starts focusing on the future, specifically on what Gemini will look like beyond the year 2020. The Gemini Board of Directors has set up a Strategic Vision Committee, whose charge can be found on Gemini’s website. In essence, the Strategic Vision identifies the Observatory’s purpose, direction, and fundamental principles. It directly addresses the role the Observatory will play beyond 2021 and considers a variety of funding and partnership scenarios. By the end of this year, the Strategic Vision will be in place.
Gen 4#3 SPIE 2016
Gemini Development will host an Open House at the Society of Physical and Industrial Engineers (SPIE) on Wednesday, June 29, 2016 at 12:00 (UTC). Come and learn about our latest developmetns and the Gen 4#3 Request for Proposals. One-on-one meetings are available between 14:00-16:00. Sign up on the day. We look forward to seeing you there!
Gemini Announces the Gen 4#3 Request for Proposal
The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), on behalf of Gemini Observatory is soliciting proposals to design, fabricate, assemble, test, deliver, and commission Gemini Observatory's next facility class instrument, Gen 4#3. Gen 4#3 will be a wide-band medium-resolution spectrograph designed to take advantage of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) follow up opportunities.
Gemini Instrument Feasibility Study (GIFS) reports available.
Gemini Observatory is pleased to announce the release of the public GIFS reports.
Gemini South Earthquake Update
On September 16th, 2015, La Serena was hit by a magnitude ~8.3 earthquake at 19:54 local time, with the epicenter about 150 km from La Serena. Fortunately, Gemini staff at the Cerro Pachón summit and in La Serena were all fine. Our thoughts go out to the people that lost their lives and homes due to the quake and the following tsunami that strongly impacted the coastal areas.
Gemini Instrument Feasibility Study
Gemini is pleased to announce the launch of 4 feasibility studies as a result of the GIFS RfP process. The four studies (alphabetically) are GEONIS, GMOX, MOVIES, and OCTOCAM. Below is a brief synopsis of each study:
Gemini South resuming operations
Commercial power has been restored to Cerro Pachón, and the road will be passable for a delivery of fuel for the backup generator on Monday. Thus, we will be resuming science operations early next week.
Gemini South performing a controlled shutdown
A severe weather event in Northern Chile with intense rains, flash floods, and mudslides has interrupted Gemini South operations. There is no damage to the facility or personnel, but we now have limited power and significant damage to the access road. To protect the infrastructure, Gemini is doing a controlled shutdown of all telescope systems including instruments. The date to resume operations is uncertain, with science operations not expected to start again before the middle of next week at the earliest.