Gemini Observatory is a ground-based international observatory with 8.1 m telescopes in each hemisphere to provide all-sky coverage. We offer optical and IR imaging and spectroscopy. Laser adaptive optics systems provide near diffraction-limited image quality, taking advantage of our two excellent observing sites (Maunakea and Cerro Pachón). Each telescope keeps three of our larger suite of instruments mounted on the telescope at all times and switches between them routinely during the night. The nighttime operations are all conducted remotely from our base facilities located approximately one hour from the summits. Science Operations is responsible for the routine operation of the established instruments and is heavily involved in the commissioning phases of new instruments. We offer multiple avenues to request observing time (standard semester calls, annual calls for long and large programs, monthly calls for fast turnaround, and an always-available director’s discretionary time) and multiple ways to observe (classical, queue, eavesdropping). Here, we will describe our operation model — how we manage and meet the challenges of the nightly/daily science operations.
The Gemini Observatory* instrument program supports breakthrough research in areas like extrasolar planets, time domain astrophysics, dark matter and dark energy, with the best possible competitive instrumentation suite given technological and budget constraints. This talk will give a broad overview of Gemini's instrumentation program focusing on achievements, challenges and strategies. We report the status of the currently offered facility instruments and AO systems at each telescope. The facility instrument program offers a strong suite of capabilities with broad applicability, which can handle the largest share of science return and as a consequence concentrates the largest development efforts. We recently completed integration and started the commissioning of GHOST, a high-resolution optical spectrograph; we are starting the integration of SCORPIO, a simultaneous 8-channel, optical to infrared camera and spectrograph, and the integration of the near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph IGRINS-2. There has been continued progress on the design of the community lead multi-IFU MOAO spectrograph, GIRMOS, which will operate with GNAO, the future adaptive optics facility at Gemini North, which is also in its design stage. In addition, the visiting instrument and instrument upgrade programs support more unique observing modes, which might have narrow scope but potentially high scientific impact. We summarize the progress and next stage of the radial velocity spectrograph MAROON-X, the performance of the speckle imagers in each site, the ongoing improvements to the GeMS MCAO system at Gemini South, the upgrades of GPI prior to its relocation to Gemini North, and the start of the commissioning phase of the first of two IFUs for GNIRS at Gemini North.
The Gemini Visiting Instrument Program (VIP) was developed to allow investigators to bring their innovative instruments and get access to either or both Gemini Telescopes. The VIP runs based on the scientific community’s instrumentation needs and helps the Gemini Observatory adapt to agile instrument program planning. We accept a broad range of instruments: from small to large instruments, from existing instruments to new ones built from scratch, from instruments for one time visit to those for multi-semester visit. To be accepted as a visiting instrument at Gemini Observatory, instruments need to show their uniqueness and provide records or predictions of the large science return from their previous facilities. Principal investigators of the possible visiting instruments must demonstrate their instruments’ competitiveness via regular telescope time allocation process. In this contribution we present the current status and plans of visiting instruments at Gemini Observatory.
SCORPIO is the next facility instrument for the Gemini South telescope at Cerro Pachon, Chile. SCORPIO’s main science driver is the detection and monitoring of faint time-domain events, in particular the follow-up of discoveries by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, but it can also carry out with unique efficiency a large variety of astrophysical programs. The instrument has recently passed Critical Design Review and is now in its Assembly, Integration and Verification phase. In this paper we provide an updated overview of the final instrument design and the main performance parameters in light of the science drivers.
Gemini Observatory is committed to providing its community with the best possible competitive instrumentation suite given technological and budget constraints. The Observatory operates 4 facility instruments plus 1 AO system at each 8m telescope. It is incorporating a new facility high resolution spectrograph, building a major workhorse multi-channel instrument for transient sources follow up, and designing a new multi-conjugate AO system. We also run three major upgrades of workhorse instruments and a long-term program to support user motivated upgrades. This paper provides a summary of results of the last three years of the instrument upgrades program and an update on our strategy to keep our instrumentation suite competitive.
I provide an overview of Gemini's instrumentation efforts including our facility instrument, instrument upgrade, and visitor instrument programs. We currently have 4 facility instruments at various stages including GHOST, a high-resolution optical spectrograph commissioning at Gemini South; SCORPIO, an 8-channel, optical to infrared camera and spectrograph being built for Gemini South; an update of the popular IGRINS instrument for Gemini; and GNAO, the new adaptive optics facility at Gemini North. I describe our visitor instrument program highlighting the radial velocity spectrograph MAROON-X and the multi-IFU infrared MOAO spectrograph, GIRMOS. Our upgrade program includes a number of improvements to our GeMS MCAO system at Gemini South, GPI upgrades and relocation to Gemini North, adding a polarimetry capability at Gemini, and new IFUs for GNIRS. I will include some thoughts on future work at Gemini and the challenges of running such a large program.
Gemini Observatory has been awarded a major funding from the National Science Foundation to build a complete new state of the art multi-conjugate adaptive optics system for Gemini North. The system will be designed to provide an MCAO facility delivering close to diffraction limit correction in the near-infrared over a 2 arcminutes field of view and feed imaging and spectroscopic instruments. We present in this paper the results of the conceptual design phase with details on the new proposed laser guide star facilities and adaptive optics bench. We will present results on the performance simulation assessments as well as the developed selected science cases.
The Gemini Observatory has a strong commitment to meeting the user community's scientific needs. This means providing a strong suite of instruments with broad applicability: those that can handle the largest share of science return as well as more unique instruments, some of which might have narrow scope but potentially high impact. Recognizing that building a new Facility Instrument is expensive and typically takes more than 5 years, we have developed the Visiting Instrument Program, which allows investigators to bring their own innovative instruments to either Gemini telescope. To be accepted, all visiting instruments must demonstrate their competitiveness via the regular time allocation process. The majority of successful instruments are made available to our broader user community within one semester of being commissioned at the telescope. Visiting Instruments are operated by the instrument team while on Gemini, and are not fully integrated to Gemini control and data reduction software. The instrument team is responsible for providing reduced data and/or a data reduction pipeline to PIs when the instrument is made available to the community, as well as providing technical assessments of any community proposals. In any given semester, as many as three Visiting Instruments at each telescope might be listed in the Call for Proposals. The availability of the instrument at either Gemini telescope is determined by popularity with proposers, by pressure from other instruments and programs, and of course by the willingness of the instrument team to allow the use of the instrument at Gemini.
Adaptive Optics (AO) systems aim at detecting and correcting for optical distortions induced by atmospheric turbulences. The Gemini Multi Conjugated AO System GeMS is operational and regularly used for science observations since 2013 delivering close to diffraction limit resolution over a large field of view. GeMS entered this year into a new era. The laser system has been upgraded from the old 50W Lockheed Martin Coherent Technologies (LMCT) pulsed laser to the Toptica 20/2W CW SodiumStar laser. The laser has been successfully commissioned and is now used regularly in operation. In this paper we first review the performance obtained with the instrument. I will go then into the details of the commissioning of the Toptica laser and show the improvements obtained in term of acquisition, stability, reliability and performance.
Gemini's instrumentation and adaptive optics development efforts continue to grow. We run an active upgrade program for existing instruments, a facility program to bring new instruments to the observatory, and a visitor program that allows teams to bring their own instruments to Gemini for their own and general community science. On the upgrade front, we have finished installing new CCDs into both our GMOS instruments; improved the capabilities of our multi-conjugate adaptive optics system at Gemini South, GeMS; and replaced the lasers in the adaptive optics systems at both our telescopes. GHOST, our new high-resolution optical spectrograph is nearing completion for 2019 delivery and our new 8-band, optical to infrared imager and spectrograph, OCTOCAM, is well into its design phase. Our visiting instruments continue to grow in both number and complexity and we are developing a path to transition selected instruments from our visitor program to become full facility instruments.
Gemini Observatory is committed to providing its community with the best possible competitive instrumentation suite given technological and budget constraints. This paper provides an update on our strategy to keep our instrumentation suite competitive, examines both our current funded upgrade projects and our future enhancements. The Observatory operates 4 facility instruments plus 1 AO system at each telescope. Next year it will incorporate a new facility instrument, will start building a major workhorse instrument for the next decade, and will complete the upgrade of the AO systems. We also run three major upgrades of workhorse instruments and a long-term program to support user motivated upgrades. Gemini also expanded the use of telescope time in procuring new instruments and supporting instrument upgrades. We expect these approaches will allow the Observatory to continue to grow the overall capabilities while being even more responsive to community needs.
The installation of fully-depleted Hamamatsu CCDs in GMOS-N in February/March 2017 marked the conclusion of the CCD upgrade project for the two Gemini Multi-Object Spectrographs. The corresponding upgrade for GMOS-S was completed in June/July 2014, so that both GMOS instruments are now operated with a detector array of three fully-depleted Hamamatsu CCDs. We present results from the commissioning of the GMOS-N Hamamatsu CCDs and discuss their on-sky performance. We provide a comparison of the GMOS-N and GMOSS detector parameters and summarize the main observing and data reduction strategies that apply to both detector arrays.
We present the current status of the SCORPIO project, the facility instrument for Gemini South designed to perform follow up studies of transients in the LSST era while carrying out with unique efficiency a great variety of astrophysical programs. SCORPIO operates in the wavelength range 385-2350 nanometers, observing simultaneously in the grizYJHK bands. It can be used both in imaging (seeing limited) and spectroscopic (long-slit) mode, and thanks to the use of frame-transfer CCDs it can monitor variable sources with milli-second time-resolution. The project has recently passed PDR and is on schedule to be commissioned at the time of the LSST first light.
The Gemini Observatory* remains committed to keeping its operational instrumentation competitive and serving the needs of its user community. Currently the observatory operates a 4 instruments + 1 AO system at each site. At Gemini North the GMOS-N, GNIRS, NIFS and NIRI instruments are offered supported by the ALTAIR AO system. In the south, GMOS-S, F-2, GPI and GSAOI are offered instrumentation and GeMS is the provided AO System. This paper reviews our strategy to keep our instrumentation suite competitive, examines both our current funded upgrade projects and our potential future enhancements. We summarize the work done and the results so far obtained within the instrument upgrade program.
KEYWORDS: Gemini Observatory, Telescopes, Systems modeling, Ferroelectric materials, Observatories, Phase modulation, Systems engineering, Lead, Environmental monitoring, Control systems
The aim of the Gemini Observatory’s Base Facilities Project is to provide the capabilities to perform routine night time operations with both telescopes and their instruments from their respective base facilities without anyone present at the summit. Tightening budget constraints prompted this project as both a means to save money and an opportunity to move toward increasing remote operations in the future.
We successfully moved Gemini North nighttime operation to our base facility in Hawaii in Nov., 2015. This is the first 8mclass telescope to completely move night time operations to base facility. We are currently working on implementing BFO to Gemini South.
Key challenges for this project include: (1) This is a schedule driven project. We have to implement the new capabilities by the end of 2015 for Gemini North and end of 2016 for Gemini South. (2) The resources are limited and shared with operations which has the higher priority than our project. (3) Managing parallel work within the project. (4) Testing, commissioning and introducing new tools to operational systems without adding significant disruptions to nightly operations. (5) Staff buying to the new operational model. (6) The staff involved in the project are spread on two locations separated by 10,000km, seven time zones away from each other. To overcome these challenges, we applied two principles: "Bare Minimum" and "Gradual Descent". As a result, we successfully completed the project ahead of schedule at Gemini North Telescope. I will discuss how we managed the cultural and human aspects of the project through these concepts. The other management aspects will be presented by Gustavo Arriagada [2], the Project Manager of this project. For technical details, please see presentations from Andrew Serio [3] and Martin Cordova [4].
The Gemini Remote Access to CFHT ESPaDONS Spectrograph has achieved first light of its experimental phase in May
2014. It successfully collected light from the Gemini North telescope and sent it through two 270 m optical fibers to the
the ESPaDOnS spectrograph at CFHT to deliver high-resolution spectroscopy across the optical region. The fibers gave
an average focal ratio degradation of 14% on sky, and a maximum transmittance of 85% at 800nm. GRACES achieved
delivering spectra with a resolution power of R = 40,000 and R = 66,000 between 400 and 1,000 nm. It has a ~8%
throughput and is sensitive to target fainter than 21st mag in 1 hour. The average acquisition time of a target is around 10 min. This project is a great example of a productive collaboration between two observatories on Maunakea that was
successful due to the reciprocal involvement of the Gemini, CFHT, and NRC Herzberg teams, and all the staff involved
closely or indirectly.
Gemini South's instrument suite has been completely transformed since our last biennial update. We commissioned
the Gemini Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics System (GeMS) and its associated Gemini South Adaptive Optics
Imager (GSAOI) as well as Flamingos-2, our long-slit and multi-object infrared imager and spectrograph, and the
Gemini Planet Imager (GPI). We upgraded the CCDs in GMOS-S, our multi-object optical imager and spectrograph,
with the GMOS-N CCD upgrade scheduled for 2015. Our next instrument, the Gemini High-resolution Optical
SpecTrograph (GHOST) is in its preliminary design stage and we are making plans for the instrument to
follow:Gen4#3.
The GMOS-N instrument was upgraded with new CCDs in October 2011, improving the instrument sensitivity at both red and blue wavelengths. The deep depletion devices are manufactured by e2v (42-90 with multi-layer 3 coating) and extend the useful wavelength range of GMOS-N to 0.98 microns (compared to 0.94 microns previously). These detectors also exhibit much lower fringing than the original EEV detectors that had been in use since GMOS-N was commissioned in 2002. All other characteristics of the new detectors (readout speed, pixel size and format, detector controller, noise, gain) are similar to the original CCDs. Operating the new detectors in all amps mode (2 per CCD) has effectively improved the readout speed by a factor of 2. The new devices were selected to provide a quick and relatively simply upgrade route while technical issues with the Hamamatsu devices, originally planned for the upgrade, were investigated and resolved. We discuss the rationale for this interim upgrade, the upgrade process and attending issues. The new detectors have been used for science since November 2011. We present commissioning results illustrating the resulting gain in sensitivity over the original detector package. Gemini is still committed to installing Hamamatsu devices, which will further extend the useful wavelength range of GMOS to 1.03 microns, in both North and South GMOS instruments. We discuss the status of the Hamamatsu project and the current planned schedule for these future upgrades.
The Gemini Observatory is going through an extraordinary time with astronomical instrumentation. New powerful
capabilities are delivered and are soon entering scientific operations. In parallel, new instruments are being planned and
designed to align the strategy with community needs and enhance the competitiveness of the Observatory for the next
decade. We will give a broad overview of the instrumentation program, focusing on achievements, challenges and
strategies within a scientific, technical and management perspective. In particular we will discuss the following
instruments and projects (some will have dedicated detailed papers in this conference): GMOS-CCD refurbishment,
FLAMINGOS-2, GeMS (MCAO system and imager GSAOI), GPI, new generation of A&G, GRACES (fiber feed to
CFHT ESPaDOnS) and GHOS (Gemini High-resolution Optical Spectrograph), and provide some updates about
detector controllers, mid-IR instruments, Altair, GNIRS, GLAO and future workhorse instruments.
We present plans for the commissioning of the new GMOS-N red-sensitive science detectors, currently being integrated
into a new focal plane assembly at the NRC HIA. These Hamamatsu CCDs provide significantly higher quantum
efficiency than the existing detectors at red optical wavelengths (longward of ~ 700 nm), with > 80% QE at 900 nm
falling to ~10% QE at 1.05 μm. This upgrade not only improves current operations with GMOS-N, but also opens new
spectral ranges and potential observing modes (eg. use with Altair, the Gemini-N AO module). Care has been taken to
ensure that Nod & Shuffle will still be supported, since accurate sky subtraction is increasingly important at longer
wavelengths due to the increased density of sky lines. The commissioning plan aims to demonstrate the improvement in
current modes while minimizing the period of GMOS-N downtime for science use. The science commissioning is
currently scheduled for mid-November 2010.
The tenth anniversary of Gemini Observatory operation provides a convenient reference point to reflect on the past,
present, and future of the instrumentation program. The Observatory will soon meet a significant milestone: the last
batch of instruments from the first three generations of instrumentation development will be commissioned by the end of
2011. This will represent a revolution for Gemini-South, which will have a suite of new or upgraded, state of the art
instruments. Included in this suite will be extreme and multi-conjugate adaptive optics systems, new infrared imagers
and multi-object spectrographs, and state of the art CCD detectors. The Observatory is on the cusp of a new era with the
fourth generation of instrumentation. While the past represented building a whole new observatory, the future represents
renewal and reinvestment, with plans for a new high-resolution optical spectrograph, new acquisition and guide units,
upgraded and refurbished instruments, and improved methods for developing Gemini instrumentation.
An infrared instrument used for observation has to keep the detector and optical components in a very cold environment
during operation. However, because of maintenance, upgrades, and other routine work, there are situations that require
the instrument to be warmed-up and then cooled-down again. At Subaru Observatory, our MOIRCS infrared instrument
has required warm-up and cool-down several times a year for routine maintenance and filter replacement. The MOIRCS
instrument has a large heat capacity and cool-down using only the closed cycle cooler is impractical due to the huge
amount of time it would require. To address this problem Subaru engineers have created a mechanism to allow PRE-COOLING
of the instrument via liquid nitrogen - allowing for a much faster pre-cool process. Even with liquid nitrogen,
the pre-cool process requires 10 tanks and almost a week of continual monitoring in order to reach the desired target
temperature. It is very difficult to work for such a long period of time at the oxygen starved summit of Mauna Kea (4205
meters),and issues of man-power and scheduling conflicts only add to the problems. To address these concerns Subaru
developed an automated pre-cooling system which works continuously and remotely at the summit. The strategy was to
have basic functionality for pre-cooling and user friendly interface. i.e. (1) Continuous cooling until the target
temperature is reached by automated liquid nitrogen tank exchanges and precision temperature control by automated
changes to the liquid nitrogen flow. (2) Remote monitoring and control of all parameter setting by Web browser as user
interface (UI). The goal of the Subaru pre-cooling system was to make it both inexpensive and quick to implement by
using existing technologies. The original goal (to cut down on labor and precision temperature control) has been attained
through several pre-cooling and software/hardware modification cycles. We will report on the progress and status of our
pre-cooling experiences in this presentation.
KEYWORDS: Astronomy, Telescopes, Software development, Spectroscopy, Observatories, Calibration, Astrophysics, Data acquisition, Computing systems, Signal to noise ratio
Astronomy is changing. Large projects, large collaborations, and large budgets are becoming the norm. The
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is one example of this new astronomy, and in operating the original survey, we
put in place and learned many valuable operating principles. Scientists sometimes have the tendency to invent
everything themselves but when budgets are large, deadlines are many, and both are tight, learning from others
and applying it appropriately can make the difference between success and failure. We offer here our experiences
well as our thoughts, opinions, and beliefs on what we learned in operating the SDSS.
At the present time, several new Gemini instruments are being delivered and commissioned. The Near-Infrared Coronagraph has been extensively tested and commissioned on the Gemini-South telescope, and will soon begin a large survey to discover extrasolar planets. The FLAMINGOS-2 near-IR multi-object spectrograph is nearing completion at the University of Florida, and is expected to be delivered to Gemini-South by the end of 2008. Gemini's Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics bench has been successfully integrated and tested in the lab, and now awaits integration with the laser system and the Gemini-South AO Imager on the telescope. We also describe our efforts to repair thermal damage to the Gemini Near-IR Spectrograph that occurred last year. Since the last update, progress has been made on several of Gemini's next generation of ambitious "Aspen" instruments. The Gemini Planet Imager is now in the final design phase, and construction is scheduled to begin shortly. Two competitive conceptual design studies for the Wide-Field Fiber Multi-Object Spectrometer have now started. The Mauna Kea ground layer monitoring campaign has collected data for well over a year in support of the planning process for a future Ground Layer Adaptive Optics system.
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