Meet the Four Gemini
Instrument Feasibility Studies
In April 2015, Gemini launched four independent instrument feasibility studies to
help determine requirements for the next
new Gemini instrument (also known as Generation 4#3, or Gen4#3) after GHOST. Each
team’s study provides Gemini with a collection of science cases, top-level science and
instrument requirements, and corresponding feasible instrument designs.
The team’s efforts were guided by a set of
principles provided by the Science and Technology Advisory Committee (STAC) [viewable here] that describe very high-level requirements for the Gen4#3 instrument. Now
completed, the four studies will aid Gemini
in creating the requirements for Gen4#3. We
expect to release a Request for Proposals to
design and build the instrument in the first
half of 2016.
Each of the four feasibility study teams presented their ideas and work in progress at
the Toronto 2015 Future & Science of Gemini Observatory meeting. The meeting also
allowed each team to interact with many
Gemini users and included a panel discussion that reflected on the coming needs for
Gemini’s next new instrument.
Summaries of the four team instrument
studies follow:
GEONIS
The Gemini Efficient Optical and Near-infrared Imager and Spectrograph (GEONIS) instrument concept is an efficient two-channel
spectrograph and imager with wavelength
coverage spanning 0.4 to 1.6 microns (µm).
It is designed from the ground up as an
observing system that uses new detectors,
atmospheric dispersion correction, and a
slit-viewing camera to maximize science
collecting time and minimize overhead.
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GeminiFocus
The astronomical landscape in the coming
decade will be dominated by wide-field
synoptic surveys, and GEONIS is driven to
both classify and study transient events
over a wide wavelength range in a single
exposure. It also has broad reach across a
variety of observational disciplines — from
characterizing transiting exoplanets to pinning down the location of near-Earth asteroids, high redshift galaxies, and stars of unusual metallicity.
The study is being led by Nick Konidaris and
managed by Dan Reiley, both at the California Institute of Technology. Main collaborators include astronomers at the University
of Colorado Boulder, Penn State University,
University of Toronto, the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, and the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory.
For more information on the GEONIS study,
please contact:
Nick Konidaris (PI): [email protected]
Dan Reiley (PM): [email protected]
MOVIES
The Montreal-Ohio-VIctoria Echelle Spectrograph (MOVIES) instrument concept is
a broad bandwidth, moderate resolution
(R ~3 K – 10 K) dual arm optical and nearinfrared (NIR) Echelle spectrograph that simultaneously covers at least 0.40 – 2.40 µm.
It is supported by a rapid acquisition camera
operating simultaneously in the optical and
near-infrared. Key additional features include
rapid target acquisition, high stability, and a
multi-band acquisition and guiding system.
(See Figure 6.)
The primary science motivation for MOVIES
includes spectroscopic follow up of the transient phenomena uncovered by facilities like
the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Additional science drivers include studying the
composition of stars and extrasolar planets
and planetesimals.
2015 Year in Review
January 2016