GeminiFocus April 2013 | Page 18

All of these activities are strategically positioning both Gemini telescopes for user opportunities in the future as we look ahead to Gemini’s place in the rapidly approaching age of the next generation of telescopes. It’s an extremely exciting time for Gemini users watching (and anticipating) the Obervatory’s development. The following brief summaries provide a taste of what the future holds for Gemini instrumentation; watch for further details on the Gemini website: www.gemini.edu, Facebook facebook.com/geminiobservatory, and in this (now quarterly) electronic newsletter www.gemini.edu/geminifocus. GeMS Figure 2. The Gemini Planet Imager being tested on the flexure rig at the University of California Santa Cruz. The Gemini Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics System (GeMS), along with its dedicated imager, the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI), has completed the transition from a development project into Science Verification (SV) observations. During this transition, GeMS/GSAOI produced a variety of very nice results, including a stunning new image of the Orion Nebula “Bullets” region featured on the cover of this issue. Semester 2013A queue observations are currently on-going, as noted in the operations report starting on page 12 of this issue. As of the start of SV, the GeMS laser has also been restored to full power (~  50W), which provides better corrections (Figure1). GPI The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) has started acceptance testing at the University of California Santa Cruz and, so far, tests have been going very much as expected. Currently, the instrument is undergoing a range of flexure tests (Figure 2), after which it will be moved to a cold chamber for environmental testing. The deformable mirror has remained stable since the last update and the replacement actuator has been successfully masked. The team is still on track to deliver the instrument to Gemini South as planned in June 2013. GRACES The fiber procurement for GRACES (a feed that carries Gemini’s light to the CanadaFrance-Hawaii Telescope’s instrument called ESPaDOnS) has always been the key element of this project’s success. The vendor has experienced trouble obtaining consistent performance from its fiber-end treatment (polishing and connectors) but recent results show significant improvements, so we expect a fiber delivery in the second quarter of 2013. The hardware needed to interface the fiber into GMOS, at the Gemini end, and ESPaDOnS, at the CFHT end, is well underway, having recently passed a thorough design review with no major issues. Effort is now 18 GeminiFocus April2013