was undertaken by Wes Fraser (Herzberg
Institute of Astrophysics, National Research
Council of Canada) and collaborators (including one taking advantage of “Bring One,
Get One”) in August 2014, covering between
them a nine-night summit block (see article in the October issue of GeminiFocus).
The run went very well and featured a night
on which three of the big Mauna Kea telescopes were trained on the same object at
the same time!
We’re keeping notes on what works and
what doesn’t during the course of these runs,
because in the longer term, as the teams
become more experienced, we expect to
reduce the level of astronomer support at
the summit. Priority Visitor (PV) mode was
announced as a general possibility in the
2015A Call for Proposals, and we are currently scheduling more such PV runs for 2015A.
Fast Turnaround Program
Launched!
Figure 3.
Optical Technician
Claudio Araya works
on maintenance tasks
inside the Gemini
Facility Calibration
Unit (GCAL), during the
operations shutdown
of Gemini South.
36
Early in the new year (January 2, 2015) we
were pleased to announce the release of the
first call for Fast Turnaround proposals. This
pilot program, running at Gemini North, gives
users the opportunity to apply for telescope
time every month. Proposals are reviewed by
the PI (or a co-Investigator) of other proposals submitted during
the same round, and
successful programs
can be observed starting one month after
the proposal deadline.
See the Fast Turnaround web pages for
full details about this
innovative program.
GeminiFocus
October 2014
Gemini South Operations
Shutdown
The annual telescope shutdown at Gemini
South was completed in the first half of August 2014. Work focused on three main activities: validating a set of spare electronics
boards for the secondary mirror, replacing
the helium supply lines in the Cassegrain
cable wrap systems, and performing preventative maintenance on the Acquisition
and Guidance (A&G) unit, which is within
the instrument support structure.
After two days of testing, the electronics
boards were validated on the telescope, and
the secondary mirror worked as required.
A complete set of spare electronics boards
now exist for both Gemini secondary mirrors.
Routine inspections of the helium supply
lines of the Cassegrain cable wrap revealed
some wear and bending, requiring all to be
replaced. The lines were then twisted into
a large braid to reduce movement and friction, which cause the lines to wear.
Regular preventative maintenance tasks
on the A & G unit were completed successfully, and several outstanding faults were resolved. Mainly a long-standing one on the
adaptive optics fold mirror, which prevented
2014 Year in Review
January 2015