GeminiFocus April 2016 | Page 17

Recent Challenges Figure 1 shows the average program completion rate of Bands 1-3 over the past five years. Many factors are at play in these plots, but we can single out examples of exceptionally good and exceptionally bad semesters. For instance, Semester 2012A at Gemini South was particularly good, because more science time became available when the Observatory cancelled planned commissioning April 2016 work. The most recent semesters at Gemini South have been challenging, especially 2015B, which we discuss later). Semester 2014A at Gemini North was unusually poor, as bad weather and dome shutter failures hit us hard; but we recovered and are now back at roughly average performance compared to the last five years. GeminiFocus Figure 1. Average program completion across Bands 1, 2, and 3 (blue, orange, and grey, respectively), for all semesters since 2010A. Top: Gemini North. Bottom: Gemini South. 15