What Will Gemini Have for You Next Semester?

Observations of Jupiter made in March at Gemini North using an 832-nm filter on ‘Alopeke.  This image demonstrates a new type of imaging enabled by ‘Alopeke: wide-field speckle image reconstruction. The ‘Alopeke camera has a wide field mode that can image a 1x1 arcminute field with the same speckle readout speed! Credit: Elliott Horch, Steve Howell, and Nic Scott

In addition to Gemini’s standard facility instruments, there will once again be several Visiting Instruments available in the next Call for Proposals. At Gemini North, we will have ‘Alopeke, our creatively mounted speckle camera operated by the team at NASA and Southern Connecticut State University. We saw some spectacular results from this instrument at the Science and Evolution of Gemini Observatory meeting last month, including the image shown here. In addition, POLISH2 will once again be available for high sensitivity polarization. POLISH2 just completed a science run at Gemini North last week, and is looking forward to returning soon! At Gemini South, we are happy to have Phoenix available once more, and we are also looking forward to the installation of Zorro, a new southern twin to ‘Alopeke. Zorro’s predecessor, the tried and true DSSI, will be available in the event that Zorro is not fully commissioned at the time of observations. More information will be available in the upcoming call for proposals – find out what’s new to use!