Figure 2.
The GHOST team
(consisting of members
from AAO, NRC-H, ANU,
and Gemini)successfully
passed their Preliminary
Design Stage Review
at Gemini North Hilo
headquarters on
Wednesday. A team
of dedicated experts,
external and internal to
Gemini, supported the
review and made some
very good suggestions
to help keep the project
on track. The entire team
was happy and relieved
on completion of this
major project milestone.
16
prove GRACES’ performance and make it
operate more efficiently. The expected sensitivity is already impressive, as illustrated in
Figure 1. Since its 270-meter fiber, which connects Gemini to the CFHT ESPaDOnS spectrograph, has a high transmission between 500
and 900 nanometers, GRACES’ performance
will rival that of other high-resolution spectrographs on other 8-10 meter telescopes.
GRACES will operate in two modes: One offering an average resolution power of R=40,000,
and another delivering R=68,000.
Additional information can be found on the
GRACES webpage here .
GIFS Moves Ahead
The Gemini Instrument Feasibility Study
(GIFS) proposal deadline passed on December 15th with eight proposals received. GIFS
will provide science cases and instrument
ideas that could be used for the next facility
instrument (Gen4#3). Gemini will now evaluate the proposals for selection in January,
2015. There’s still time, however, to provide input for Gen4#3 at the Gemini Future and Sci-
GeminiFocus
ence meeting in June. (Information about the
meeting is available at this website). The latest information on GIFS can be viewed here.
GHOST Materializing
During the third week of December 2014,
the Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph (GHOST) project held its Preliminary
Design Review (PDR) in Hilo, Hawai’i (Figure
2). Attending were the Review Committee
and several members from the partnership:
Gemini Observatory, Australian Astronomical Observatory, Australian National University, and Canada’s National Research Council–Herzberg.
The PDR Committee was pleased to see the
progress achieved, acknowledging the extraordinary effort of the GHOST team in
achieving the PDR’s passage and has recommended that the project proceed into the
Critical Design Stage. The Committee also
made numerous recommendations to help
the team ensure success. Watch for future
updates as the Critical Design Review approaches by the end of 2015; we still plan on
January 2015