Fast Turnaround News, Including the First Publication

Color composite image from Gemini North and the Nordic Optical Telescope shows three bright lensed quasar images whose time delays have been measured.

Every month another Fast Turnaround (FT) proposal deadline arrives, with this month’s on November 30. Programs can now use instruments at either Gemini North or South. The previous proposal round was popular, with 16 proposals submitted and now under review. Full information on the current offerings and requirements are posted at the FT web page, and the FT blog has the latest news. The first publication based on FT observations has been published: Principal Investigator Michael Gladders (University of Chicago), lead author Haakon Dahle (University of Oslo, Norway), and collaborators measure the time delay in a lensed quasar system. See the Gemini website for brief information; the full results are published in The Astrophysical Journal and a preprint is available.