Large and Long Programs Proposals Selection

This year, starting in semester 2014B, the Gemini Observatory begins observing the proposals selected as part of the Large and Long Program initiative (for programs which require more time than is typically awarded for Gemini observing programs). As an example, the Dark Energy Survey team, plans to explore examples of strong gravitational lenses using spectroscopy.

Other programs include observations of galaxy clusters; studies of the surface of trans-Neptunian objects; motions of the Milky Way; the survey discovery rate of very young supernovae; and newly discovered asteroids and comets close to the Earth (as shown in the figure below).

You can find out more by going to the Long and Large Programs webpage.

This sequence of four Gemini images shows the 800-meter-wide Near-Earth Asteroid 2014 EN45 (circled), which was discovered by the NEOWISE survey on March 6, 2014.