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Gemini e-Newscast May 2021
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The up-tick in Hawaii COVID case counts noted in the last e-Newscast reversed itself in the first two weeks of May, and new cases are currently running at a few per day on the island of Hawaii. Approximately 50% of the island population has now been vaccinated (first shot), though there are signs that this is slowing. Operations at Gemini North continue largely unchanged, with a reduced day crew on the mountain and night crew separated between two control rooms at the Hilo Base Facility.
In Chile there are good indications that the number of new COVID cases is trending downward. The vaccination efforts are progressing well. Telescope operation has continued as before, with strongly restricted presence on the summit and in the offices, and the night team working from separate rooms. But given the positive trends, we may see some relaxation in the near future.
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By Jove! Jupiter Shows Its Stripes and Colors
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Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/NASA/ESA, M.H. Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al.
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Stunning new images of Jupiter from Gemini North and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcase the planet at infrared, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths of light. These views reveal details in atmospheric features such as the Great Red Spot, superstorms, and gargantuan cyclones stretching across the planet’s disk. The visible and ultraviolet views were captured by the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope, while the infrared image comes from the Near-InfraRed Imager (NIRI) instrument at Gemini North. Read the full press release here.
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Virtual Gemini Science Meeting: August 23-26, 2021!
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Thanks to everyone who participated in the Virtual Gemini Science Meeting planning survey! There was enthusiastic support for an on-line meeting in August to bridge the gap to the in-person meeting in Seoul (which has been postponed again until next summer). The feedback provided by the ~140 responses have helped us to develop the following plans.
Mark your calendars! Our first Virtual Gemini Science Meeting will be held August 23-26, 2021, to begin at 9:00 GMT and run for 3-4 hours each day. The program/schedule will be announced in early July and will include invited science talks, observatory updates, hands-on training sessions, and generous time for questions and discussion. There will be a special focus on upcoming instrumentation, as the survey indicated a broad interest in that area. For this inaugural virtual Gemini Science Meeting, contributed talks will not be solicited, as the survey also indicated that there currently is not a strong current interest in having such a component in the program.
For more information please see the meeting website at: https://noirlab.edu/science/resources/meetings/gsm2021
Registration is open and there will be no fees to attend! We are excited to be able to bring the Gemini community together again (albeit remotely)! Questions and feedback are welcome at gemini21vsm@noirlab.edu.
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Fast Turnaround Proposals
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Gemini North and South are accepting proposals for the Fast Turnaround (FT) program. The upcoming deadline is at 23:59 Hawai‘i Standard Time on 31 May 2021. Successful proposals from this cycle will be active in the Queue from July through September 2021. We are happy to announce that we are accepting proposals at Gemini-N for NIRI and NIFS with Altair NGS and LGS. Please check the telescope schedule for Gemini North and South and the detailed instrument availability for the July-September period. The FT program has been used to conduct pilot studies, complete observations for existing data sets, follow-up on newly discovered objects, and much more. Proposing teams are typically notified within a few weeks of the deadline, and data for successful programs can be obtained as early as a week or two after that. We have been using a dual anonymous proposal review process (DARP) since February. Proposals must use the FT DARP proposal templates and be anonymized as described in the Call for Proposals here.
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