GHOST System Verification (SV) to take place in May and June

We are currently preparing for the first open call for observations with GHOST in 2023B. As part of this preparation, we are undertaking system verification (SV) observations with GHOST in early May and June. The goals of this are to: 1) perform full end-to-end testing of observatory software, documentation, and operational procedures and 2) provide an initial set of publicly available GHOST data that showcase the commissioned capabilities and range of science and inform proposal preparation by the wider Gemini community. About 40 hours of engineering time have been allocated for GHOST SV observations.

A small SV team, which includes Gemini observatory personnel and community representatives, will prepare, conduct, reduce, and evaluate observations, and present the results in order to support the use of GHOST by the wider community. A subset of this group, the Instrument Science Team (IST), is primarily responsible for developing the set of observations to take for SV, and reducing and analyzing those datasets. The IST was chosen in consultation with the Gemini Directorate, STAC, and the NRC-led GHOST Instrument team.

Further information about the SV process and timeline can be found here. This webpage will be regularly updated throughout the process. We expect to release raw data a month after observations are taken and to present results of the data quality analysis the following month, along with a report on the overall GHOST observation system. A Call for Proposals for GHOST Shared Risk science is expected in late August for observations in the period November 2023–January 2024. A total of 61.3 hours have been allocated for the Shared Risk observations.