the University of California Santa Cruz will bring to Gemini ; and IGRINS ( an immersion grating infrared spectrometer ) whose University of Texas team will use in a Large and Long Program ( more information here ).
All of these instruments are vastly broadening the observational parameter space that Gemini can offer to its users . We encourage all Gemini users to continue to seize these opportunities and approach us with any new ideas or instruments you may have , or experiments you may want to conduct at Gemini .
What Else Is New ?
On the time exchange front , we have expanded our agreement with the Subaru telescope : as of May , the Japanese community can apply for Fast Turnaround time and one Large and Long Program at a given time . In exchange , the Gemini community can propose for a Subaru “ Intensive Program ” in the future . ( More information viewable here .)
If you have not yet tried the Fast Turnaround mode , do so ; in this scheme , any month is a good month to submit a proposal . To motivate you , here is a user ’ s quote from the last round : “ The Gemini ’ s Fast Turnaround is a great program for astronomers to perform experiments in a quicker and easier way ! Thanks to all the FT ’ s staff / scientists for the effort ! You are doing a great job here !”
Finally , this issue of GeminiFocus contains some great science from recent observations with Gemini , often combined with other facilities . For example , the lead science article from Brian Nord and Elizabeth Buckley-Geer describes how they used Gemini to confirm the first galaxy- and galaxy-cluster scale gravitational lensed systems found in the Dark Energy Survey data . But see also Science Highlights for news of the 17-billion-solar-mass black hole in a large galaxy ( measured by Jens
Thomas et al . at Gemini North ), the tracing of a young planet ’ s orbit in the disk of the HD 95086 planetary system ( Julien Rameau et al .), the story behind our cover image of the young star-forming region N159W in the Large Magellanic Cloud ( observed with GeMS-GSAOI by Anaïs Bernard et al .), and the observations of a “ hot Jupiter ” with with GRACES by Jean-François Donati et al .
We are proud to see so many exciting results being enabled by Gemini — truly living our statement of purpose , “ Exploring the Universe , Sharing its Wonders .”
Markus Kissler-Patig is Gemini ’ s Director . He can be reached at : mkissler @ gemini . edu
2 GeminiFocus July 2016