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Get to Know Gemini! – André-Nicolas Chené

Get to Know Gemini is a new series of blog posts aimed to highlight the different careers, backgrounds, and types of people contributing to Gemini Observatory and its science.

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Name:   André-Nicolas Chené

What is your current position and at which telescope?

Assistant Scientist at Gemini North

In four lines or less, explain what you do as part of the Gemini Observatory team?

I am member of a new department at Gemini that is focusing on the support to our scientific users. I am revisiting everything regarding how we work with the users, and I am implementing news tools or procedure that improves communication and collaboration.

How long have you worked for Gemini?

3+ years.

What drew you to this job?

I always wanted to work at an observatory.

What is the best part of your job?

Creating new projects! Seeing them at their birth, leading them to success. And all that with incredible team mates.

Where are you originally from/where did you grow up?

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (Québec), Canada

What skill do you think is most important to know for your job?

The ability to come up with many solutions, one even crazier than the other. Then, any rational mind can pick the best one later.

Why is astronomy important?

Because without it, we would know nothing of who we are, were we stand. 400 years ago, the whole western world changed radically. Its philosophy, its social structure, its theology, were all shaken by one astronomical discovery: the Earth is not the center of the Universe.

In three lines, explain your PhD thesis.

I studied stars, named Wolf-Rayet stars, that hide behind the matter that they expel. My challenge was to mesure their rotation speed, even if we cannot see their surface. I monitored large structures in the wind that are tightened to the surface and that rotate with it.

What are your current research interests?

I study clusters of stars in our Galaxy, the Milky Way. Especially those who hide behind interstellar dust.

What is your favorite movie?

“Mon Oncle” from Jacques Tati

What is the latest book you have read?

Egoman, by Serge Marquis.

What three albums would you bring with you to a desert island?

Wish you were here, Pink Floyd
The harp concerto from Boildieu
Silence, Fred Pellerin

What is one hobby of yours?

Cycling

Favorite beverage?

That Pilsner after hard work on a hot day.

Check back next month to learn more about the staff that help Gemini to explore the Universe and share its wonders!

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Are the Stars out Tonight at Gemini South?

Stunning images of the southern night sky are now available, thanks to a set of cloud cameras recently installed at the Gemini South telescope as part of the Base Facility Operations (BFO) project. These cameras are part of the Cloud Sensing System implemented to remotely assess the nightly cloud cover conditions while observing.

The system is designed by Pikotek, a Hilo, Hawai‘i-based company. The system consists of a modified digital SLR camera and lens, enclosed to protect the system from the harsh mountain-top elements. Pikotek also produced the same devices for Gemini North on Maunakea, Hawai‘i.

The cameras take photos of the night sky at fixed intervals — usually every 30 to 60 seconds, with exposure times ranging from a fraction of a second up to 30 seconds. The images are copied onto an embedded computer and evaluated, and then processed to compensate for color, exposure and noise. Finally, the images are compiled into time-lapse videos as shown above.

This work at Gemini South telescope will include the installation of a fifth cloud camera, an all sky camera, a second set of wind sensors, and an earthquake sensor set which will allow remote observing while monitoring various environmental conditions.

Base Facility Operations at Gemini South are expected to be fully implemented by the end of 2016.

With Francisco Meza

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Everybody Wants to be a StarLab Educator!

Everybody Wants to be a StarLab Educator!

Word is out, and educators are passing on the news about Geminiʻs StarLab Loan Program! Gemini North and South both have portable planetariums available for loan to schools and community groups. Every month the outreach office receives more and more loan requests, however the equipment is only loaned to trained educators who have participated in our training program.

Gemini Observatoryʻs StarLab Portable Planetarium is a fun and interactive way to get students excited about astronomy and science. Several projection options provide a diverse range of concepts to tailor presentations for all ages. Visit the Gemini North and South StarLab webpages for more information about our StarLab, our available projection cylinders, and current workshops and events.

StarLab Workshops at Gemini South

Starlab Loan Program

San Nicolas school teachers Juan Lorca and Jonathan Olea, during of one of the training sessions for the Gemini South Starlab Loan Program in La Serena, Chile.

In June, Gemini trained two teachers from San Nicolas School in La Serena. Both teachers are now comfortable with the technical details needed to operate the mobile planetarium, and used their new skills along with their backgrounds in astronomy to deliver engaging presentations to their students.

Lissette Araya, who coordinates the the Gemini StarLab Loan program with teachers says, “I was surprised by the teachers’ commitment to learn basic astronomy and improve their own knowledge in such a short time.”

For now, winter break for all the students in Chile is ending and Gemini staff are preparing the equipment for the start of the new school year in July.

Students from La Serena in front of the Gemini South StarLab.

Students from La Serena in front of the Gemini South StarLab.

StarLab Workshops at Gemini North

While itʻs winter vacation for students in the Southern Hemisphere, students on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi are enjoying their Summer vacations. “Weʻve been busy taking our StarLab to several Summer Fun programs around the island; from Waimea, to Kahuku,” according to Christine Copes who coordinates Gemini’s StarLab program in Hawai‘i. “Also, for the first time this year, Gemini conducted StarLab presentations for all K-1 students in the Hilo-Waiākea district as an extension of the Journey Through the Universe Program. We visited 1450 students from 49 classrooms!”

Students at Kapiolani Elementary School in Hilo entering the StarLab.

Students at Kapiolani Elementary School in Hilo entering the StarLab.

Demand for the StarLab is so high, that in early October, Gemini North is holding a StarLab training, thatʻs open to educators and community leaders on Hawaiʻi Island. The training will be held at the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center on Monday, October 3, 2016. Please contact us to attend one of our training sessions!

“The StarLab is an invaluable teaching tool that is helping us bring the beauty and wonder of the Universe into the classroom for our students this summer,” says Director of the Hawaii Science and Technology Museum Christian Wong, who participated in Gemini’s prior StarLab training session.

 

The flyer for our upcoming StarLab workshop at Gemini North.

The flyer for our upcoming StarLab workshop at Gemini North.

 

At the last Gemini North StarLab training, we showed our educators our available cylinders. Pictured is our StarLab educators using the Polynesian Voyaging cylinder.

At the last Gemini North StarLab training, we showed our educators our available projection cylinders. Pictured is our StarLab educators using the Polynesian Voyaging cylinder.

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Gemini Scientist Leads Data Reduction Workshop Session

Gemini Scientist Leads Data Reduction Workshop Session

Kathleen Labrie, a member of Gemini’s Science User Support Department, presented a hands-on tutorial of Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) imaging data reduction at the Observational Techniques Workshop hosted by the International Telescopes Support Office (ITSO) and the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). The workshop took place in early May at the AAO Headquarters in North Ryde, Sydney.

The workshop was designed to be an introduction to the optical and infrared facilities available to the Australian astronomical community, and included tutorials and demonstrations where participants were able to get their hands on real data and learn how to reduce it.

Kudos to Kathleen as it was the highest rated session of the workshop. Participant Alex Codoreanu tweeted, “from archive to I-band image in a couple of hours, best workshop ever!”

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Capturing “Shocking” Young Stars in N159W

Capturing “Shocking” Young Stars in N159W

The world’s most advanced adaptive optics system reveals “shocking” details on star formation in a new image released by the Gemini Observatory. Benoit Neichel of the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, worked with PhD student Anaïs Bernard on the research behind the image. Bernard came to Gemini South with Neichel as part of Gemini’s Bring One, Get One program, and plans to complete her PhD based on this work in 2017.

Bernard’s trip to Gemini was her first experience at a large telescope facility.

“I was impressed by the laser guide stars propagating in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), pointing to the field that we had carefully selected in the previous months,” says Bernard.

Anais Bernard-2

Anaïs Bernard

Perfect Conditions

Gemini systems were performing well, but the seeing conditions for the first three nights of their run weren’t great. Bernard said she and Neichel were anxious at the beginning of their observing night, but the sky was extremely clear. That particular night happened to be the best of the run, and they were lucky enough to capture N159W in the LMC with the Gemini Multi-object Spectrograph (GeMS) lasers and the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) right from the first part of the night. Bernard emphasizes that those data represent a major step in her PhD program. She spent months selecting targets and adjusting all the observation parameters, learning how to position the field, where to take the background image, which star should be used for the photometric calibration.

“I was impressed to see that everything ran exactly according to our plan, and the results came out even better than what I would have expected!”

Gemini South GeMS/GSAOI near-infrared image of the N159W field in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image spans 1.5 arcminutes across, resolves stars to about 0.09 arcseconds, and is a composite of three filters (J, H, and Ks). In this view north is down and east is right .

Gemini South GeMS/GSAOI near-infrared image of the N159W field in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image spans 1.5 arcminutes across, resolves stars to about 0.09 arcseconds, and is a composite of three filters (J, H, and Ks).

Data Analysis

Apart from the scientific analysis of the data, Bernard also used the images to develop new data reduction tools.

“Those images are also the key data set that we are using to define and test new data reduction tools. As the level of details and the large field provided by GeMS/GSAOI are unique, new data reduction and analysis tools must be developed. This is also exciting because even once we are back in our office, far from the telescope, we can still significantly improve the quality of those sharp images, and optimize the scientific return of the instrument.”

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