The first comments from FT users were incredibly positive. Here are a few:
“I am deeply impressed with this review
system. It is smooth, easy to use, and looks
like it’s been well-tested in advance. Bravo!
I have already praised it publicly, and will
continue to do so.”
— Peter Maksym, astronomer,
University of Alabama
“The Fast Turnaround program is fabulous,
and I enjoyed the review process — a nice
way to get us all involved, learn more
about what Gemini is used for, and move
toward a tighter Gemini community.
Thanks!”
— Steve Howell, Kepler Mission Project
Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
“If successful, then this observing mode will
distinguish Gemini Observatory from the
other 6- to 10-meter class observatories.
And this may bring new and unique science
to Gemini. I expect it to also significantly
increase the publication rate of papers
based on Gemini data.”
Learn more about Gemini’s FT program in
the article starting on page 17 of this issue.
The year 2014 is worth one more look back:
Last year, you, our users, published more papers than ever with the Gemini telescopes
(225 total; see link), and for the first time
papers were almost equally split between
Gemini North (131) and Gemini South (129);
note that some papers used both telescopes
and are not double counted in the grand total. The most noticeable fact is that 51 (nearly a quarter) of these papers used Gemini
adaptive optics (AO) in one form or another
— stressing how important that technology
has become, and encouraging us to commission further instrument modes with AO.
2
GeminiFocus
Returning our focus back to 2015, the Gemini High-resolution Optical Spectrograph
(GHOST) is now firmly underway, and efforts
to launch the third of the fourth generation instruments (aka Gen4#3) are moving
forward rapidly. Eight teams responded to
Gemini’s Call for Feasibility Studies (Gemini
Instrument Feasibility Studies, GIFS) in December, and four were selected to deve