Figure 1.
Layers of the A&G unit
being worked on in
the lab. Foreground:
module 2 (PWFS, AO
fold); background:
science fold (the mirror
is pointing away from
you). Working on the
science fold module,
left to right: Neal
Masuda, Cy Bagano,
Eduardo Tapia, and
Harlan Uehara.
• Installation of a sensor on the GMOS mask
exchange mechanism –– to avoid recurrence of a failure mode in which an incompletely retracted MOS mask could cause
damage when the exchange mechanism
moves to a different slot.
• Cleaning of GMOS and GCAL optics with
CO2.
• Installation of a water separator in the Hydraulic Bearing System.
GeMS/GSAOI
Over the past few months at Gemini South
we have seen the transition of GeMS/GSAOI
(the multi-conjugate AO system and IR imager) from a Development project into its Commissioning and System Verification (SV) stages. During this transition, some 2013A queue
observations have been carried out as well.
In pure statistical terms, the SV phase was
very productive with 28 proposals received,
requesting 138 hours. Of these, 13 were slotted into the 55 available hours, spanning both
14
GeminiFocus
bands 1 and 2 and covering image quality
bins from the 20th to the 85th percentile. At the
time of writing, fully 89 percent of the SV observations have been completed.
Only one project proved impossible to execute, due to inaccessibly faint natural guide
stars. Throughout this exciting period, the
system’s usability has continuously improved,
and the number of staff required to run the
system has decreased. Still, a lot of work remains to bring the system into truly “normal”
operations in the regular Gemini queue.
2012 Science Operations
2012 was an eventful year for Gemini Operations, with new activities keeping things
interesting for all concerned. A considerable
effort to improve overall service to our users
included: (1) a new protocol of sending of
“Program Completed” emails on completion
of queue projects; and (2) the first tests of a
new eavesdropping capability to allow Principal Investigators (PIs) to get a better view
of (and participate in) the observing process.
April2013