Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium

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Gemini Overview Warrick Couch Aus Gemini
Scientist

• Gemini instrumentation program current and
  near-term
• Future Gemini instrumentation the Aspen
  process
• Gemini Science Meeting 2004
• Australian usage of the Gemini telescopes
• Australian scientific output from Gemini

Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
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Geminis instrumentation program current and
near-term
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
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Instrument Summary
Mauna Kea
Cerro Pachon

• GMOS
• GNIRS
• T-ReCS
• bHROS
• NICI
• FLAMINGOS-2
• GSAOI
• GSAO

• GMOS
• NIRI
• MICHELLE
• ALTAIRLGS
• NIFS (V2)

Arriving in 2005!
Baseline Modes Commissioned About to be
Commissioned Instrument Under Development
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Current Capabilities Comparison
Imager
Spectrometer
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Current Capabilities Comparison
Imager
Spectrometer
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Current Capabilities Comparison
Imager
Spectrometer
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Stop Press Gem-S now the worlds first 8m
telescope with a silvered primary!
31 May 2004 M1 on Gem-S successfully coated with
silver

• 4-layer composite coating used
• Reflectivity at 880nm measured to be 96.3
• Emissivity at 3.8?m is 1.3

Al
Ag
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
8
Future Gemini instrumentation - the Aspen
process -
defining the Gemini partnerships scientific
visions for the latter half of this decade (and
beyond) and hence determining the next generation
of instruments for its telescopes
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
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Aspen 2003 Workshop

• Meeting held in June 2003
• Attended by 100 astronomers which represented
  interests of many more astronomers world wide
• Key product of the meeting was a set of
  fundamental questions in astronomy that would
  serve as the basis of the scientific strategic
  plan for the Observatory

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Aspen 2003 Workshop

• Matter
• How do galaxies form?
• What is the nature of dark matter on galactic
  scales?
• What is the relationship between super massive
  black holes and galaxies?
• Energy
• What is dark energy?
• How did the cosmic dark age end?
• Life
• How common are extrasolar planets, including
  earth-like planets?
• How do star and planetary systems form?
• How do stars process elements into the chemical
  building blocks of life?

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Gemini Science Committee 2003 Meeting

• New Instruments
• Extreme AO Coronagraph
• High Resolution NIR Spectrometer
• Wide Field Fiber-Fed Optical Spectrometer
• GLAO NIR Imager
• GLAO NIR Spectrometer
• Optical IFU Spectrometer
• Optical High Resolution Spectrometer
• High Resolution MIR Spectrometer
• MCAO fed NIR MOS
• Wide Field Optical MOS
• AO-fed NIR Spectrometer
• New Facilities
• GLAO System including Adaptive Secondary
• f/6 Telescope Configuration (1 telescope)

• List of potential new instruments needed to
  address science questions posed at Aspen was
  discussed at the October 2003 GSC meeting
• Merged with rough cost estimates and an upper
  envelope for the total budget
• Prioritized list was defined
• Recommended 2 instruments carried forward via
  design studies and 2 carried forward via
  feasibility studies
• Design studies lead to construction contracts
• Feasibility studies lead to design studies

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Gemini Science Committee 2003 Meeting

• New Instruments
• Extreme AO Coronagraph
• High Resolution NIR Spectrometer
• Wide Field Fiber-Fed Optical Spectrometer
• GLAO NIR Imager
• GLAO NIR Spectrometer
• Optical IFU Spectrometer
• Optical High Resolution Spectrometer
• High Resolution MIR Spectrometer
• MCAO fed NIR MOS
• Wide Field Optical MOS
• AO-fed NIR Spectrometer
• New Facilities
• GLAO System including Adaptive Secondary
• f/6 Telescope Configuration (1 telescope)

• List of potential new instruments needed to
  address science questions posed at Aspen was
  discussed at the October 2003 GSC meeting
• Merged with rough cost estimates and an upper
  envelope for the total budget
• Prioritized list was defined
• Recommended 2 instruments carried forward via
  design studies and 2 carried forward via
  feasibility studies
• Design studies lead to construction contracts
• Feasibility studies lead to design studies

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Gemini Science Committee 2003 Meeting

• New Instruments
• Extreme AO Coronagraph
• High Resolution NIR Spectrometer
• Wide Field Fiber-Fed Optical Spectrometer
• GLAO NIR Imager
• GLAO NIR Spectrometer
• Optical IFU Spectrometer
• Optical High Resolution Spectrometer
• High Resolution MIR Spectrometer
• MCAO fed NIR MOS
• Wide Field Optical MOS
• AO-fed NIR Spectrometer
• New Facilities
• GLAO System including Adaptive Secondary
• f/6 Telescope Configuration (1 telescope)

• List of potential new instruments needed to
  address science questions posed at Aspen was
  discussed at the October 2003 GSC meeting
• Merged with rough cost estimates and an upper
  envelope for the total budget
• Prioritized list was defined
• Recommended 2 instruments carried forward via
  design studies and 2 carried forward via
  feasibility studies
• Design studies lead to construction contracts
• Feasibility studies lead to design studies

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2003 Gemini Board Meeting

• GSC recommendations endorsed
• 3-stage development program proposed/endorsed by
  the Board
• Begin design studies for an Extreme Adaptive
  Optics Coronagraph (ExAOC) and High Resolution
  Near Infrared Spectrometer (HRNIRS)
• Begin feasibility studies for a Wide Field
  Optical Fiber-fed MOS (WFMOS) and Ground Layer
  Adaptive Optics (GLAO) system
• Examine options for pursuing science goals
  identified in Aspen via modifications to
  existing/planned instruments and/or visitor
  instruments

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Near Term Instrument Development Timeline

• Issued Announcements of Opportunity for new Aspen
  instruments in December 2003
• Triggered broad response within our
  instrumentation community

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Near Term Instrument Development Timeline

• Issued 4 Requests for Proposals in January 2004
• Sent to 40 groups around the world who submitted
  Letters of Intent

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Near Term Instrument Development Timeline

• Scientific Horizons at the Gemini Observatory
  completed
• Encapsulates the scientific aspirations of our
  community and, through its completion, closes a
  key chapter in the Aspen Process
• The Gemini Partnership is particularly indebted
  to the Aspen group chairs, who worked tirelessly,
  in close collaboration with Gemini, to produce
  this document

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Near Term Instrument Development Timeline

• Proposals submitted to Gemini and reviewed by
  Source Selection Board (SSB)
• SSB scored proposals and recommended which teams
  should be funded to carry forward studies for the
  ExAOC, HRNIRS, WFMOS, and GLAO
• In the process of putting 8 teams under contract
  now

Including one led by AAO to do GWFMOS feasibility
study
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Near Term Instrument Development Timeline

• All design and feasibility studies due end of
  January 2005
• Design studies will be reviewed by expert panels
  that will recommend a down-select to a single
  team to go forward with ExAOC and HRNIRS
• Feasibility studies will be reviewed though no
  competitive down-select process required
• Entire process enters a built in hold state to
  assess options and determine which, if any, of
  the instruments should be pursued via follow-on
  contracts

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Extreme AO Coronagraph

• Design Requirements
• Wavelength Range 0.9 to 2.5 ?m
• Field of view gt 3 arcsec
• Imaging plate scale 0.01 arcsec
• Spectral resolution R100
• IFU option 0.02 arcsec sampling
• Spectral resolution R300
• Full J, H, or K coverage
• Small image distortion for astrometry
• High Strehl to achieve 107 contrast
• Separations 0.1 to 1.5 arcsec
• Built in wave front sensor
• Broad and narrow band filters
• Polarimetry
• Pipeline processing

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High Resolution NIR Spectrometer

• Design Requirements
• Single-slit cross-dispersed mode
• 0.2 arcsec spatial sampling
• Slit length 3 arcsec
• One-shot wavelength coverage as large as possible
• Spectral resolution R70,000
• Absorption cell for precision radial velocity
  measurements
• Multi-object MCAO-fed spectrometer
• Spatial sampling 0.05 arcsec
• 2 arcmin field of view
• Spectral resolution R30,000
• Multiplex gain of 15-30
• Wavelength range 1.1 to 5 ?m
• Built in wave front sensor
• Pipeline processing

Tinney to Chair SWG
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Wide Field Fiber Fed Optical Multi-Object
Spectrometer

• Design Requirements
• Wide field of view 1.5 deg
• Multiplex gain of 4000-5000
• Wavelength coverage 0.39 to 1.0 ?m
• Spectral resolution R1000 to 30,000
• Slit lengths (fiber footprint) of 1 arcsec
• One-shot wavelength coverage of 0.4 ?m
• Prime focus fiber feed to individual
  spectrographs
• Pipeline processing

Boyle Freeman on SWG Colless a liason
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Ground Layer Adaptive Optics System

• Design Requirements
• Wavelength coverage 0.8 to 2.5 ?m corrected
  beam
• Field of view 10 arcmin diameter
• PSF FWHM 0.2 arcsec at 1 ?m
• Uniform PSF
• Feed either IFU spectrometer or imager (not part
  of study)

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New Future Capabilities (2004) at Gemini vs.
Competing 8-10 m Telescopes
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New Future Capabilities (2004) at Gemini vs.
Competing 8-10 m Telescopes
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New Future Capabilities (2004) at Gemini vs.
Competing 8-10 m Telescopes
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Closing Comments

• The instruments we are starting to build are
  unlike any instruments built to date
• Will probably be used in large scale campaigns to
  address the fundamental questions posed at Aspen
• Significantly greater cost, complexity and
  reliance upon new technology than our current
  instruments
• With these risks comes an unprecedented potential
  for discovery
• Funding for these instruments, beyond the
  design/feasibility study phase, remains uncertain
• The Aspen Process will come to a close when we
  meet again, perhaps in 2010, to discuss the
  first scientific results of our next generation
  of instruments

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Gemini Science Meeting 2004 23-26 May, Vancouver

• Aim to showcase the scientific results obtained
  with Gemini in its first 4 years of operation
  to foster scientific collaboration throughout the
  partnership
• Format3-day meeting with 60 talks 21 poster
  papers presented (with sessions covering complete
  range of astrophysical areas)
• Additional meetings held in conjunction Gemini
  Users, NGO and PIO meetings
• Participation 130 astronomers from all of the
  partner countries (9 from Australia)

Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
29
Australian participation in GemSci2004

• 5 talks in the science meeting Croom/Boyle QSO
  host study also featured as a talk (by D.
  Schade, Ca)
• 2 poster papers in the science meeting (by Da
  Costa and Pracy/Couch)
• 1 invited talk at the Users meeting (P. McGregor
  NIFS GSAOI)
• 2 reps at the NGO meeting (Ryder Whiting)

A. Melatos (UMelb)
P. Francis (RSAA)
S. Ryder (AAO)
M. Whiting (UNSW)
R. Wayth (UMelb)
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
30
Australian Usage of the Gemini Telescopes
as measured through the submission of proposals
to the Australian Time Assignment Committee
(ATAC), which allocates Australias share of time
on the Gemini telescopes.
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
31
Time available/requested the 1st four years
Gemini North
Gemini South
avail
req
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Demand by institution (proposal nos.)
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
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Australian publications from Gemini
Dec 2003
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
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Australian publications from Gemini

• But runs at last on the board in 2004
• Croom et al. 2004, Gemini imaging of QSO host
  galaxies at z2, Ap.J., 606, 126.
• Melatos et al. 2004, Rapid variability of
  subarcsecond shock structure in the Crab Nebula,
  Ap.J. (submitted).
• Forbes et al. 2004, Gemini/GMOS photometry of
  globular clusters in the Virgo galaxy NGC4649,
  MNRAS (submitted).
• Stanway, Glazebrook,..Boyle, Colless, Couch et
  al. 2004, Three Ly? emitters at z6 Early
  Gemini/GMOS data from the GLARE project, Ap.J.,
  604, L13.

Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
35
Two factors to ponder
? Average time request/allocation is small
8.25hrs
? Completion rate of Australian Gemini queue
programs
Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
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(No Transcript)
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Australian Astronomy MNRF Symposium
ATNF Marsfield, 8 June 2004
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Schedule for instruments coming on-line until 2006
Gemini North
Gemini South
Hokupaa-36,OSCIR, NIRI GMOS-N MICHELLE ALTAIR(
NGS), (NIFS) ALTAIR (LGS)
AcqCam, Flamingos-1 Phoenix CIRPASS GMOS-S,
T-ReCSb-HROSGNIRS, Hokupaa-85 NICI GSAO
(NGS), GSAO-Imager Flamingos-2 GSAO (LGS), MCAO
02
03
04
05
06
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Functionality at different wavelengths
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Functionality at different wavelengths
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Scientific usage by Australian researchers
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
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Australian demand for Gemini (2001 - 2003)
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
43
Australian demand for Gemini (2001 - 2003)
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
44
Australian Gemini proposals according to science
area
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
45
Postgraduate student involvement in Gemini
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
46
International links and collaborations
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
47
Australian management structure
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
48
Key elements of Australian management structure
Gemini Board Member

• Appointed by Australian Government 3 year term
• Attend IGP Board meetings and represent the
  interests of the ARC and Australian users
• chair the Australian Gemini Steering Committee
• Dr Gary Da Costa (ANU)

• Appointed by Australian Government comprises 9
  members
• Advise the Australian Government on all matters
  relating to Australian membership of the IGP
• Oversee the operation of the Australian Gemini
  Office
• Appoint the Australian Gemini Scientist and the
  Gemini Science Advisory Committee

Gemini Steering Committee

• Advise the Australian Gemini Scientist on all
  matters relating to the scientific exploitation
  of Gemini be Australian users
• Comprises 13 members, 10 of which are selected to
  be broadly representative of the entire spectrum
  of Australian scientific and instrumental
  interests in Gemini

• Liaise with and be the main point of contact with
  the IGP and other National Gemini Offices on all
  scientific, operational, instrument matters
• Promote, foster and support the use of Gemini
  facilities by Australian researchers.
• Prof. Warrick Couch (UNSW)

Gemini Science Advisory Committee
Gemini Scientist Gemini Office
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
49
In addition, there is..

• Officially formed by DEST
• Peer reviews applications from Australian
  astronomers for time on the Gemini telescopes (as
  well as the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope)
• Makes recommendations for allocations of time to
  the Gemini ITAC

Australian Time Assignment Committee (ATAC)
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
50
Australian Gemini Office/Scientist
responsibilities in more detail.

• Support Australian proposal submission (Phase I)
  process, including technical assessment of all
  proposals
• Support Australian observers through observation
  definition (Phase II) process
• Support Gemini Help Desk, responding to all
  queries from Australian users

These tasks currently distributed across
institutions in Sydney (UNSW, USyd, AAO) and
likely to be spread more widely as number of
Gemini instruments/users increases
Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003
51
Australian Gemini Office/Scientist
responsibilities in more detail.

• Maintain a national Gemini website with up to
  date information on all relevant Gemini
  activities maintain a mirror site for the IGP
  web pages (UNSW/ANU)
• Promote Gemini capabilities within Australia
  (UNSW/ATNF/AAO)
• Provide Australian representation in all
  scientific, operational, and engineering/instrumen
  tation IGP activities (UNSW, UMelb, ANU)

Australian Membership of the International Gemini
Partnership
ARC Review of LIEF support, Sydney Univ, 20 March
2003