Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ana appears to be headed on a trajectory to the south of Hawaii. Because the impact on the Big Island is still uncertain, the Gemini Base Facility will remain open on Friday afternoon, but staff will be allowed to leave in order to prepare for the storm’s possible impact. The Mauna Kea summit crew will also depart the summit early Friday afternoon. Nighttime operations will also be cancelled at least through Sunday night.
If circumstances change updates will be added.
Here are some useful links:
Hawaii active watches: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/watchwarn/
MK Weather center trends plot: http://mkwc.ifa.hawaii.edu/forecast/mko/trends/
Ana page at CPHC: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/tcpages/?storm=ANA
Civil defense: http://www.hawaiicounty.gov/active-alerts/
Government readiness info: http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes
Satellite view as of 12:00 noon Oct. 17.2014
Gemini North is back to normal operations this week following a regularly scheduled yearly shutdown. This shutdown offered a unique opportunity for many of Gemini’s science staff to see and experience the inner workings of the instruments they regularly use. Below are pictures and videos from this rare visit inside of Gemini. Click on the images to see them full size.
Members of the Gemini North Science staff.
Inside the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS).
Some of Altair’s optics. Altair is Gemini North’s adaptive optics bench.
The inner workings of the science fold mirror (covered) used to send light collected by the telescope to one of the various instruments mounted on the back of the telescope.
Color filter wheel as part of the Acquisition and Guidance modules.
Each year, since 2011, the Gemini STARS program recognizes one staff-member from each site (Hawai‘i and Chile) who exemplify Gemini’s Working Culture in an outstanding manner. Awardees are nominated by their fellow co-workers based on these standards:
Striving for personal and institutional growth
Treating others as we want to be treated
Acting with integrity in all we do
Responsibility and accountability for our actions
Safety of people and equipment
This year’s STARS awards honor Vincent Fesquet (posthumously) at Gemini South, and Gemini North’s receptionist (and friendly face to our visitors) Gabriela Randrup.
Enrique A. Cancino, Sr. Human Resources Generalist in Chile adds these thoughts about Vincent: “Vincent demonstrated being a true citizen of this world. His kindness was reflected in his day-to-day work and exceptional friendliness with every one of his co-workers. He was always in good spirits and eager to work countless hours to push the laser and other work projects to success.”
Gabriela Randrup is the first face you’ll see at Gemini North. She greets you when you walk in the front door, helps you find who you are looking for, and directs you where you need to go – all with a warm, glowing smile. Congratulations Gab!
This week Gemini North began a regularly scheduled shutdown. This annual engineering shutdown allows time to perform maintenance and repairs on the telescope and all of its systems. Specific work will include maintenance and improvements of the Acquisition and Guiding module, the Cassegrain wrap, and other instruments; the information systems group will also upgrade the summit datacenter.
The scheduled Gemini North September shutdown commenced on Monday, September 8th and daytime shutdown work will continue through Monday, September 22nd. The planned first night on the sky will be the evening of Monday, September 22nd for engineering checkouts, and possible regular queue observing.”
Instrument Removal
Acquisition and Guiding (A&G) modules placed on handling carts
Removal of the white Instrument Support Structure (ISS) from telescope
Cassegrain Wrap support frame set up on ballast weight in preparation for removal
