DSSI and `Alopeke on Gemini South and North Simultaneously!

For a few nights at the end of October, both Gemini telescopes were dedicated to diffraction-limited imaging at visible wavelengths. The nights of October 25-28 were the last nights in a block of `Alopeke observing in the North, and the first nights in a similar block of DSSI in the South. Although both are visitor instruments, the highly compact 'Alopeke (a souped-up version of DSSI) is now permanently mounted on Gemini North, nestling in the gap between the Instrument Support Structure and the Calibration Unit.

Plans are being made to mount a clone of 'Alopeke – known as Zorro – in the same location at Gemini South. Both names mean "fox," in Hawaiian and Spanish languages, respectively, because these instruments rely on speed and cunning: fast readout and very clever data processing to give diffraction-limited images in visible light.