GeminiFocus July, 2015 | Page 15

ings that prevented its use for creating masks for both GMOS instruments. In a concerted effort, the code was recently made less instrument-dependent. This fix also paves the way for mask creation for the MOS mode of the near-infrared FLAMINGOS-2 instrument, commissioning of which will begin this year. At the same time, all user interfaces were made more transparent and user friendly. A series of internal consistency checks minimizes the number of submitted faulty mask designs, and a comprehensive user manual is available. All in all, this amounts to a significant overhaul for GMMPS, making it a more effective and user-friendly tool for mask creation (Figures 4-5).. Figures 4-5. Top: A final mask design overlaid over a GMOS-S pre-image. The large green rectangle displays the detector area where spectra are recorded. The thick red polygon indicates the field-ofview within which slits (small yellow vertical bars) may be placed. The spectral footprints are shown as filled horizontal rectangles. Bottom: The user interface that controls which elements are shown in the pre-image display. It also shows the number of valid acquisition stars and issues warnings if spectra are truncated by the finite detector geometry. July 2015 GeminiFocus 13