Science Operations Announcements

Suspension of Gemini North Operations Continues

July 31st, 2019

Gemini North remains closed for observations. We would at this time have been in the scheduled engineering shutdown, but the continued lack of reliable access to Maunakea has delayed the start of that work. With the approaching Hurricanes Erick and Flossie bracketing the weekend, a small crew ascended to the summit this morning (31-Jul) to leave the facility in a safe state. Once we regain reliable summit access we will commence and complete the shutdown, but to limit the loss of time in 2019B have deferred the planned primary mirror coating until 2020.

Observing databases offline June 3

May 29th, 2019

The Gemini observing databases will be offline for several hours on Monday, June 3 while we perform software updates.

During this time the following services will be unavailable:

  • Observing Tool synchronizations and file transfers
  • Phase I Tool guide star probability queries
  • Target of Opportunity triggers

The new 2019B Observing Tool should be available on Tuesday, June 4 and will be required to access the observing databases.

North Observing Database Offline April 17

April 16th, 2019

The Gemini North observing database will be offline for several hours on Wednesday April 17 starting at 9:30am for hardware maintenance.

During this time the following services will be unavailable:

  • Observing Tool synchronizations and file transfers (Gemini North programs only)
  • Phase I Tool guide star probability queries

Please check this site for further announcements.

2019-Apr-17 @ 13:45 HST: access to the Gemini North observing database has been restored.

Gemini South Back On Sky

January 25th, 2019

Gemini is happy to announce that Gemini South went back on sky the night of Jan 24, after the 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the Southern operations area on Jan 19.
Gemini South Engineering Operations successfully adjusted the hydraulic bearing system, recovered the elevation encoder and delivered the telescope to resume operations.
The telescope behaved normally and science observations resumed even though the weather did not coopoerate with great conditions.

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