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13 November 2002: Gemini Observatory honored Dr. Fred Gillett, a pioneer in infrared astronomy, by naming the Gemini North Telescope in his honor at ceremonies at the telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, November 13, 2002.

13 August 2002: Thanks to a unique combination of international cooperation and the latest Internet technology, Gemini Observatory is now well on its way to becoming the world's first global "cyber observatory".

20 June 2002: What began as an essay contest in British Columbia, Canada to encourage an interest in astronomy for elementary school students has resulted in spectacular images and scientific data that may warrant possible follow-up observations.

4 June 2002: Optical technicians dressed in clean suits and protective gear incorporate a little old-fashioned "horse sense" into their procedures as they use common horse soap to clean the 8-meter (26-foot) mirror of Gemini North Telescope high atop the nearly 14,000-foot (approximately 4,000 meters) peak of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawai'i. The periodic cleaning is a highly complicated process involving more than 500 steps and a crew of more than 20 engineers, technicians and support personnel. The procedure includes dismounting the 24-ton mirror from the telescope structure, lowering it five stories to the basement, mounting it on a washing frame and then washing the aluminum-coated, 20cm (8-inch) thick glass mirror to remove accumulated contaminants on the mirror surface.

21 May 2002: Astronomers using adaptive optics technology on the Gemini North Telescope have observed a brown dwarf orbiting a low-mass star at a distance comparable to just three times the distance between the Earth and Sun. This is the closest separation distance ever found for this type of binary system using direct imaging.

21 March 2002: Astronomers observing with the Gemini North Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea have a powerful new tool to probe mysterious cosmic caldrons like those at the cores of galaxies and stellar nurseries.

25 February 2002: A Canadian-led research team using the Gemini Observatory has released tantalizing evidence that tiny dust particles ejected by hot, massive stars, may survive long enough to reach the interstellar medium. This kind of process might have provided some of the materials necessary for the early formation of planetary systems in the young Universe.

7 January 2002: Astronomers using adaptive optics on the Gemini North and Keck telescopes have taken an image of a brown dwarf orbiting a nearby star similar to the Sun. The faint companion is separated from its parent star by less than the distance between the Sun and the planet Uranus and is the smallest separation brown dwarf companion seen with direct imaging.

29 October 2001: In the deepest ground-based mid-infrared image ever, the Gemini North Telescope reveals that the mysterious environment around one of the most massive black holes in the Universe is missing a key feature predicted by astronomical theory.

2 October 2001: After seven years of design and construction but only two weeks of commissioning, a remarkable first light image was obtained with a new state-of the-art instrument at the Gemini North Telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea. The image of the large galaxy in Pisces called NGC 628 (or Messier 74) has been called the "Perfect Spiral Galaxy" due to its nearly ideal form, which is clearly revealed in this new image.

23 July 2001: A dramatic infrared image released today by the Gemini Observatory sheds new light on the early stages of the formation of giant stars in our galaxy. The image, taken by the Gemini North telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, reveals remarkable details in a nebula of gas and dust expelled from a young star named AFGL 2591. This expulsion is a common feature in the formation of stars similar in size to the Sun, but it is far less common in their massive counterparts.

4 June 2001: From massive young star clusters swaddled in a dust cocoon 600 trillion miles wide to intriguing structural details in a circumstellar disk around a nearby binary star system, the 8-meter Gemini North telescope is providing astronomers with some of their best-ever infrared views of the processes of star and planet formation.

16 October 2000: The first scientific observations from the Gemini North telescope provide a dramatic glimpse into the elusive core of the Milky Way, including an intriguing bow-shock from a star as it plows into a poorly understood gas cloud a mere 3 light-years from the galactic center.

25 June 1999: At a ceremony on Mauna Kea today, astronomers revealed some of the sharpest infrared images ever obtained by a ground-based telescope. These first high-resolution images from Gemini North reveal the remarkable power of the telescope's technologies, which minimize distortions that have blurred astronomical images since Galileo first pointed a telescope skyward almost 400 years ago. The clarity of these images is equivalent to resolving the separation between a set of automobile headlights at a distance of 2,000 miles!

25 June 1999: At a ceremony in Hawaii today, astronomers revealed some of the sharpest infrared images ever obtained by a ground-based telescope. These first high-resolution images from the new Gemini North Observatory show the remarkable power of the telescope's technologies, which minimize distortions that have blurred astronomical images since Galileo first pointed a telescope skyward almost 400 years ago. The clarity of these images is equivalent to resolving the separation between a set of automobile headlights at a distance of 2,000 miles!

15 April 1999: The Gemini Observatory has received $600,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support a significant expansion of the internet connection speed between its Mauna Kea observatory, its Hilo headquarters in University Park, and the rest of the world. By coordinating the Gemini grant with a similar but different NSF grant recently made to the University of Hawaii's (UH) Information Technology Services, all of the Big Island observatories and UH-Hilo will share in the benefits of this much improved connection.

23 December 1998: Over the past two weeks, the Gemini North telescope near the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea has succeeded in accomplishing several key steps in the completion of this state-of-the-art 8-meter telescope facility.

18 November 1998: On November 18, 1998, the Gemini Observatory Northern Operations Center at the University of Hawaii's University Park will be officially dedicated and blessed. This new 17,000+ square foot facility is the first permanent home for the Gemini Observatory's scientific, technical and administrative staff. The building will also contain the Observatory's remote access control center, instrument labs, meeting & conference facilities and will serve as a hub for Gemini's world-wide communication network that connects the seven countries participating in the Gemini Project. The building's lobby has been designed to greet visitors with exhibits that will interpret Gemini research for the public and display current scientific research done at the observatory.

29 June 1998: Measuring over 26 feet across, the largest single-piece telescope mirror ever to travel to Mauna Kea arrived safely at its final destination, 13,780 feet above sea level, on Sunday, June 28th. Weighing in at over 25 US tons and encased in a 20-ton steel crate, the mirror took three days to travel from Kawaihae Harbor to the Gemini Observatory site. As one of the widest loads ever transported to the summit, the 28 foot-wide crate required road improvements and even temporary removal of road signs before the mirror could make the final 65-mile journey to its home on the top of Hawai'i.

18 February 1998: AURA announced today that final polishing of the primary mirror for the northern hemisphere Gemini 8-Meter Telescope has achieved remarkable results. According to Larry Stepp, Gemini Optics Manager, "This mirror is the best mirror of its size ever polished." The Gemini 8-Meter Telescopes Project is an international partnership among the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil to build two state-of-the-art 8-meter telescopes--one on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the other on Cerro Pachon, Chile.