The Gemini Cerro Pachón datacenter will be shut down on October 5 and 6, 2020 due to maintenance work on the power infrastructure. The Gemini South ODB is still accessible. The only service that is unavailable is the DSS Gemini image catalog server. If automatic image display in the OT does not seem to be working, then select another image server.
While the Gemini-S telescope has been closed during recent months, our team has been working on preparing detailed plans for re-opening, as soon as the conditions in Chile would allow.
A decision has been taken that from September 28th we can start work on preparing the Gemini-S telescope for limited night-time operation. Assuming that all the preparations will go well, we may be back to observing at night by the second half of October.
Gemini is now accepting proposals for observing time in Semester 2021A. The submission deadline varies with participant. A new version of the Phase I Tool (PIT) has been released to support proposal submissions.
Poor Weather proposals are now being accepted at Gemini North using the 2020B PIT.
Gemini North will be closed the nights of Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26, due to Hurricane Douglas. The Gemini North datacenter may be taken offline if the severity of the forecast increases.
Any further updates will be posted to this page.
The Gemini South observing database will be offline for several hours on Tuesday, July 7, 2020 for maintenance. If you cannot connect then please try again in a few hours.
This should not affect access to the Gemini North database, though users of the OT may see some connectivity warnings.
Update: As of 14:00 Chilean time on July 7, 2020 the Gemini South observing database is back online. Please submit a Helpdesk ticket if you encounter any problems.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Gemini South telescope is currently not observing. This situation is likely to continue for some time to come. Therefore we have decided that the Phase-2 preparation deadline for Gemini South 2020B programs can be delayed by one month until August 20, 2020.
The Gemini North Phase-2 deadline remains July 20, 2020.
Gemini 2020B observing programs and schedule have been announced. Notification emails were sent to successful PIs on June 25, 2020. Please check the schedules page for more information. Note that the latest version of the Observing Tool is required to access and update 2020B programs.
The 2020B Gemini Observing Tool is now available for download. This update is required to access the Gemini Observing Databases.
The Installation Instructions are linked on the Observing Tool web page, and we recommend that everyone download their programs from the databases rather than import from saved XMLs.
The Gemini observing databases will be offline for several hours on Tuesday, June 2 while we perform software updates.
During this time the following services will be unavailable:
The new 2020B Observing Tool will be available after the update and will be required to access the observing databases.