Observatory has implemented the majority of the Transition Program . Ongoing developments continue in 2016 on projects that enable additional energy savings , reduce expenses ( such as restructuring lab space at Gemini South for use as office space ), and support for the transition to Base Facility Operations at Gemini South .
Changes that Affect Our Users
Users are most directly affected by changes within Science Operations . Table 1 summarizes these changes as well as those within Engineering Operations , which indirectly impact our users .
Change
Reduced ( and changed ) data quality assessment
Non-research queue observers
Base Facility Operations
Archive
Priority Visitors
Four facility instruments + adaptive optics at each site
Reductions in engineering staff
Table 1 . Changes affecting our users .
Description
In early 2013 we changed the quality assessment on queue data to be done primarily at night by the observer . Only Band 1 data receive additional checks during the day . In addition , we have implemented an automatic data quality assessment pipeline , which covers all imaging and acquisition observations . Users are encouraged to review their data promptly and contact us in case of issues . The fraction of observations that have to be repeated has not increased due to these changes .
We have gradually phased in non-research staff members as queue observers . The goal is for non-research staff to perform 75 % of the queue observing . This has been the case at Gemini North for several semesters and we expect that Gemini South will reach a similar level within 1-2 semesters , as training is completed .
We have moved nighttime operations to the Gemini North Base Facility . The same will take place at Gemini South in 2016 . Visiting observers are ( positively ) affected by this change , which also saves a total of about $ 400,000 annually in lodging , meals , and transportation costs .
We have implemented an archive that serves all science ( and engineering ) data from the Amazon Web Services . The archive went through extensive reviews by the Users Committee , staff from the National Gemini Offices , and repeat users of Gemini . Full implementation was in place by December 2015 , and the move saves us more than $ 200,000 annually . The archive is available here : https :// archive . gemini . edu
Principal Investigators of Large and Long programs and selected Band 1 programs can now visit Gemini as Priority Visitors . They can take their own data ( if conditions allow ) or execute queue observations . This arrangement improves our contact with users , while saving a small amount of staff effort .
The two Gemini telescopes will each operate with a maximum of four facility instruments and a facility adaptive optics system . This ensures that we ( with the reduced staff ) have sufficient effort to support these instruments .
A reduction in engineering staff , coupled with the above-mentioned limitation on facility instruments , means that we will not be able to support future major instrument rework or instrument building ( such as on FLAMINGOS-2 and Canopus ). Thus , any instruments procured in the future will have to meet requirements prior to arriving at Gemini . The reduced engineering staff may also mean that major technical faults have a longer response time .
56 GeminiFocus January 2017 | 2016 Year in Review