MAROON-X Front End Commissioning

Andreas Seifahrt (left) and Julian Stuermer (both University of Chicago, where MAROON-X is being constructed) beneath the MAROON-X Front End installed on the bottom instrument port at Gemini North.Credit: Siyi Xu, Gemini Observatory

MAROON-X is a radial velocity spectrograph being built at the University of Chicago which is expected to have the capability to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of mid- to late-M dwarf stars using the radial velocity method. In order for MAROON-X to come to Gemini as a Visiting Instrument, the team constructed a Front End which will fit on the bottom instrument port at Gemini North and hold the fiber that will run down to the spectrograph located in the pier lab below.
 
This Front End unit has recently arrived in Hawai‘i, and was installed on the telescope for testing in December. The commissioning has gone very well, thanks to the diligence and care that the instrument team has put into the design and construction, and the support of the Gemini day crew. We achieved first light on the same day as installation and spent a few hours over the ensuing evenings verifying that the software behaves as expected, and that the atmospheric dispersion correction and guiding meet specifications. Based on the success of the Front End, we are looking forward to the arrival of the spectrograph itself in early 2019. Watch this space for more news in the next few months!