What's Shaking at Gemini North?

As travel restrictions remain in place for Hawai‘i and many other locations, it is not possible for our Visiting Instrument teams to come out to Gemini North to work with staff in person. We are making the best of the situation by using videoconferencing and virtual networking protocols to allow the instrument teams to make observations remotely. In this way, the teams can make observations for the community with visiting instruments such as the speckle imager ‘Alopeke and the new high-dispersion spectrograph MAROON-X. There are a number of exciting results from the recent observing runs, so watch this e-publication for the latest news.

Additionally, Gemini’s science and engineering staff have been working with the 'Alopeke team to assist with vibration studies in preparation for the Gemini North Adaptive Optics (GNAO) system, currently in development. Because GNAO will be very sensitive, they are working to characterize and mitigate any vibrations that may be affecting the telescope in order to get the most out of this future cutting-edge capability. This type of engineering collaboration is just one of the many reasons we are grateful to work with our innovative and dedicated Visiting Instrument teams!