Gustavo Arriagada
Base Facility Operations:
The Dawn of Fully Remote
Observing is Here!
Figure 1.
Tom Cumming and
Dolores Coulson during
testing of BFO systems in
the Hilo control room.
As Gemini’s Base Facility Operations enters its trial phase in
Hawai’i and integration at Gemini South approaches, the
Observatory is rapidly advancing toward an exciting new era of
fully remote observing.
Base Facility Operations (BFO) is Gemini Observatory’s large project aimed at eliminating the need for nighttime observing staff
and visiting astronomers at the telescope facilities on Maunakea
and Cerro Pachón. The ultimate goal is to allow the execution of
observations completely from the base facilities in Hilo and La
Serena. If you have visited either telescope, you will know that
many remote functions are already possible. However, operating
the telescopes at night, without anyone at the mountain facilities,
still requires new capabilities that, once implemented, will address a long list of possible risks and safety concerns. Once done,
the BFO project will assure the safety of the staff, telescope, building, and instruments, while allowing astronomers to acquire the
highest quality astronomical data from base facilities without interruption.
Major Accomplishments at Gemini North
Although much of Gemini North’s infrastructure was already set
up to run the telescope remotely, several steps in the current operations routine still required changes/upgrades before moving
the night crew to the base facility.
18
GeminiFocus
October 2015