Doug Simons Gemini Observatory Director

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1 Personal Gemini Background Trends in Research & Instrumentation Future Possibilities Doug Simons Gemini Observatory Director

2 First Light Image Age 6-12 Christmas Age 13 High School Age 16 18

3 Graduated from Caltech 1985 Graduated from Univ. of Hawaii 1990 Staff Astronomer Canada, France Hawaii Telescope Systems Scientist, AD for Instrumentation, Director 1994 present As you can see Hawaii has been central to my life in many ways

4 Married 1990 Raising 3 children in Hilo, Hawaii

5 Gemini Observatory Gemini-North Mauna Kea, Hawaii Gemini-South Cerro Pachon, Chile

6 Gemini Observatory What: Twin 8 m infrared optimized telescopes that together provide all-sky coverage and help support the research of thousands of astronomers worldwide Who: A scientific partnership between the US (50%), UK (25%), Canada (15%), Australia (5%), Brazil (2.5%), & Argentina (2.5%) When: Gemini-N operational in 2000, Gemini-S in 2002 Cost: ~$200M to build and ~$30M annually to operate Staff: ~190 men and women from over 20 countries that are based in Hilo, Hawaii and La Serena, Chile A world-class set of engineers, scientists, technicians, and administrators Why: Exploring the Universe, Sharing its Wonders

7 A Highly Diverse Gemini Staff Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada Chile China Denmark France Germany India Japan Korea Mexico Peru Spain Sweden UK USA

8 Our Operations Philosophy Two Telescopes - One Observatory This approach has profound implications on Gemini s operating model, budget, staffing plan, development program, infrastructure, etc. To our community we appear and function as a single observatory - the only such major facility that is capable of targeting any object in the sky We can seamlessly hand-off targets from one telescope to the other, if necessary Queue based operations are truly unique and it is not unusual to use every instrument on each telescope every night as we match preprogrammed observing sequences to current weather conditions

9 Gemini s Distributed Instrument Program Near-Infrared Imager Adaptive Optic Systems Multi-Object Spectrographs Coronagraph Near-Infrared Spectrograph Mid-IR Imager High Resolution Optical Spectrograph Integral Field Spectrograph

10 Gemini s Distributed Instrument Program Teams scattered across 15 time zones worldwide within the multi-national Gemini Partnership Cost of instrument development program to date is ~USD M Nominally each Partner is allocated a fraction of the program equal to their contribution to Gemini US = ~50% UK = ~25%, etc.

11 A Unique Telescope Design Lightweight f/16 secondary tip/tilt chopping Thin telescope structure reduces thermal inertia Primary mirror rests above elevation axis to increase wind flushing & Cassegrain payload

12 Wind Through Dome Gates A Unique Telescope Design

13 A Unique Telescope Design

14 A Unique Telescope Design Sodium laser projection system Thin (10 mm) secondary mirror supports minimize diffracted light in stellar images Deployable baffle configured for Visible Near-infrared Mid-infrared

15 4-Layer Protected Silver Coatings Low emissivity (~3%) Context - What Makes Gemini Distinct in the Near Term?

16 Low emissivity (~3%) Exceptional Image Quality Context - What Makes Gemini Distinct in the Near Term?

17 Low emissivity (~3%) Exceptional Image Quality Multi-instrument queue Fast response mode Context - What Makes Gemini Distinct in the Near Term?

18 Low emissivity (~3%) Exceptional Image Quality Multi-instrument queue Fast response mode Multi-conjugate AO Context - What Makes Gemini Distinct in the Near Term? ESO MCAO Demonstrator

19 Context - What Makes Gemini Distinct in the Near Term? Low emissivity (~3%) Exceptional Image Quality Multi-instrument queue Fast response mode Multi-conjugate AO Unmatched nearinfrared sensitivity Kriek et al. 2008

20 Research Trends, Current Capabilities &Future Plans

21 GRB HR 8799 IRSC J A Flurry of Recent Discoveries Recent discoveries at Gemini illustrate the potential of a queue scheduled 8 m observatory optimized for high performance infrared imaging

22 Percent of allocated time in the band Target of Opportunity Programs Gemini s queue based operations were originally designed to permit rapid switching or programs/instruments to match observing programs with changing conditions In practice this same capability has proven to be popular for Targets of Opportunity Weather on Titan Supernovae GRB s, etc. 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 5 Years Band 1 % ToO Band 2 % ToO

23 Summary of Gemini s Current Instruments Mauna Kea NIRI GMOS ALTAIR+LGS MICHELLE NIFS GNIRS Cerro Pachon GMOS T-ReCS NICI FLAMINGOS-2 Canopus/MCAO GSAOI GPI

24 New Capabilities Mauna Kea NIRI GMOS ALTAIR+LGS MICHELLE NIFS GNIRS Cerro Pachon GMOS T-ReCS NICI FLAMINGOS-2 Canopus/MCAO GSAOI GPI Baseline Modes Commissioned New Capability (Now < Time < 1 yrs) New Capability (2 yrs < Time < 3 yrs)

25 FLAMINGOS-2 GeMS Gemini Planet Imager GMOS Gemini-S CCDs

26 The Transformation of Gemini-S Multi-Conjugate AO System (GeMS) Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) NIR Imager/Multi-slit Spectrometer (FLAM-2) GMOS-S Fully Depleted CCDs Gemini Planet Imager Gemini-S

27 The Transformation of Gemini-S New instrumentation bound for Gemini-S uses advanced AO technology Multi-Conjugate AO System (GeMS) Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) NIR Imager/Multi-slit Spectrometer (FLAM-2) GMOS-S Fully Solid Depleted state laser CCDs systems Gemini Planet Imager Gemini-S MEMS based deformable mirror Advanced reconstructors, beam launch systems, etc. Collectively represents the culmination of ~$50M of investment in AO technologies This suite of O/IR imagers and spectrometers will offer Gemini s community a wide range of research opportunities

28 Near Infrared Coronagraphic Imager (NICI) NICI continues to perform beautifully To date used mostly in the initial phase of a major planet search campaign Gemini-S + NICI demonstrated to be the most sensitive NIR coronagraphic system currently in use Now available for general use Eta Carina NICI in the Cerro Pachon Lab FeII/Br- /H 2 composite (Courtesy Kris Davidson)

29 Gemini Planet Imager High performance coronagraphic imager & spectrometer Under development now by LLNL, JPL, UCLA, UCSC, HIA, U. Montreal, AMNH Designed to yield >10 7 contrast ration within ~0.25 arcsec of stars Deployed on Gemini-S in 2012 and used for major planet search campaign

30 Summit of Mauna Kea Laser Adaptive Optics at Gemini 8 May 2010 Edition

31 90 km MCAO Basics - Reducing the Cone Effect Missing Data

32 MCAO Performance Comparison No AO Classical AO 1 DM / 1 NGS MCAO 2 DMs / 5 NGS 320 stars / K band / 0.7 seeing 165 Stars magnified for clarity

33 Canopus MCAO Vitals 5 LGS WFS 16x16 Shack-Hartmann 3 Deformable Mirrors totaling ~800 actuators, conjugated to 0, 4.5 and 9km ranges 3 APD based NGS Tip-Tilt WFS 1 NGS slow focus WFS } 1 x 50W laser divided in 5 x 10W beams placed on the corners and center of a 1' FoV 2 dedicated instruments: ( pixels GSAOI (4xH2RG NIR imager), 80 FoV (20mas Flamingo II (NIR MOS), 2' FoV Many subsystems: All-sky Camera, safety systems, infrastructure, laser(s), BTO, LLT, etc...

34 MCAO Bench (Canopus)

35 MCAO Solid State 50 W Sodium Laser 1319 nm Oscillator 1319 nm Amplifiers SFG Optics Wavelength Locking Module Output beam Beam Diagnostics 1064 nm Amplifiers 1064 nm Oscillator Illustration Courtesy Lockheed Martin Coherent Technology

36 MCAO Solid State 50 W Sodium Laser 50 W Sodium Laser Arrives at Gemini-S Laser Service Enclosure

37 Examples of Research with Adaptive Optics

38 Orion Nebula Gemini-N Laser AO as a Segue to MCAO

39 Monitoring Titan s Weather with Gemini-N Adaptive Optics (Roe et al. 2009)

40 Supernova Forensics September 2004 June 2008 SN 2008cs discovered using Gemini AO LGS system Radio detection confirms a core-collapse supernova Near infrared colors indicate extremely large extinction making it impossible to observe at optical wavelengths Radio contours on 2008 image Such large obscuration is significant to supernovae statistics and measurements of star formation in distant, dusty galaxies Kankare et al. 2008, ApJL 40

41 Dispersion Velocity Black Hole Masses in Galaxies NIR Integral Field AO LGS observations High spatial resolution stellar kinematics Black hole masses from modeling NGC x 10 8 M sun NGC x 10 7 M sun Used galaxy nuclei as tip-tilt reference NGC 524 NGC 2549 Krajnović et al. 2009, MNRAS 3

42 Planets Beyond Our Solar System HR8799

43 Strategic Plans and The Path Ahead

44 Context What Will Gemini s Role be in the Long Term? Gemini Will No Longer Be The New Kid

45 Challenges Ahead Like much of the rest of the world, the recent global economic crisis has impacted Gemini too Much of my attention today is focused on restructuring Gemini to prepare for a ~20% budget cut in 2 years After thorough analysis I remain confident that much of what I have shown you today about Gemini s capabilities will be preserved, but it is inevitable that with such a large cut, what Gemini provides its community will be diminished Effective 31 Dec. 2012

46 Gemini s Basic Strategy Avoid an arms race that yields winners and losers in what should be a universally accepted scientific quest Gemini should play to its strengths - Exploit existing investments and design features of the telescopes Avoid trying to do everything for everyone Do not disenfranchise large portions of our community in the process - non-trivial Engage other observatories to expand the scientific opportunities of our community Exchange telescope time Align development plans Share resources where we can find win-win situations

47 Telescope Time Swap Program

48 Telescope Time Swap Program Today Keck, Subaru, and Gemini have a time exchange program that is opening new and unique research opportunities for our respective communities For example, Japanese astronomers have access to Gemini-S instrumentation and, in exchange, Gemini astronomers have access to the wide field optical imager and near-infrared multiobject spectrometer at Subaru These research tools would not be available to either community if such a time exchange program weren t available

49 Gemini s Core Capabilities Will Spur Collaboration ALMA Gemini-South

50 Emergence of a Pan-Pacific Astronomy Alliance

51 Conclusions Gemini Observatory - Offers thousands of astronomers world-wide unique research opportunities through state-of-the-art instrumentation and innovative collaborations with other world-class facilities Through on-going investment and development strives to ensure our research community always has outstanding tools for discovery available Has a management philosophy of focusing on our strengths in a global community in the use of scarce/precious resources Serves as an important example for other major international research organizations

52 Exploring the Universe, Sharing its Wonders