Gemini South optical engineers inspect the primary mirror after 7-hour coating process.
The Gemini South telescope is back on the sky, after 18 days of hard work during the recent scheduled maintenance shutdown. During the shutdown, from October 13-30, the 8.1 meter primary mirror received a fresh multi-layer protected silvered coating – a key task for the shutdown.
The Gemini primary mirrors (north and south) are unique among large astronomical observatories because they are coated with a special 4-layer protected silver reflective surface – rather than aluminum, the usual coating used on large telescope mirrors. This gives Gemini an advantage in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing observations that are not possible with other ground-based telescopes.
The 8.1 meter primary mirror suspended on the 4th floor, before descending to the stripping/coating area on the first floor of the observatory building.
The re-coating process is a complicated process that requires complete attention by the entire engineering staff, and observations are not possible during this time, since major telescope systems require disassembly.
To take advantage of the shutdown period, the engineering team also performed a number of other concurrent maintenance tasks. These included work on critical systems such as the Acquisition and Guidance (A&G) unit; the Gemini Multi-Object Spectograph (GMOS); the mirror support system, and improvements on the secondary mirror’s cooling system.
Michiel Van Der Hoeven, Head of Engineering Operations at Gemini South, explains that one of the major milestones reached during this shutdown was to s0lve problems with the GMOS CCDs (Charged-Coupled-Devices). “Normally these kind of instrumentation maintenance stand-downs are done outside the telescope shutdown,” said Van Der Hoeven. “This time, to reduce the effect of taking our workhorse instrument off-sky, it was decided to form a dedicated team between Gemini South and Gemini North engineers to work on this during the shutdown.”
Who said it would be easy this time?
This year Chile was hit by several natural catastrophes that included major flooding in March, a huge snowfall in August, a major earthquake in September. In addition this shutdown was interrupted by unseasonal snowfall.
“It meant the planned work was interrupted twice, due to limited access to the summit. Once we reached the summit again, thanks to the dedication, commitment and availability of our staff for long working days and weekends, we still stayed within the original planning,” explained Van Der Hoeven.
The new reflective coating on the 8-meter Gemini South primary mirror is expected to last about five years with normal cleaning.
“Now, the mirror is installed back in the telescope and instruments are mounted and aligned with all systems checked and operational. Gemini South is ready for normal operations next week, with a shinny mirror that will continue to deliver outstanding images of our Universe,” concludes Van Der Hoeven.
Destacados de Viaje al Universo 2015. Al lado superior izquierdo, los comediantes científicos del grupo Big Van comparten un momento entretenido. Al lado derecho, Erich Wenderoth responde preguntas tras terminada su charla. Abajo izquierda, Irene Puerto, educadora científica de Big Van guía a los funcionarios municipales de La Serena para comunicar efectivamente de ciencia y a la derecha los pequeños del Colegio Trinity de La Serena disfrutan sus galletas después de aprender con ellas las fases de la Luna. (Crédito: Observatorio Gemini/AURA) / Highlights from the 2015 Viaje al Universo program. At upper left, educational entertainers from the Big Van troupe share a fun moment. At upper right Erich Wenderoth responds to student’s questions. In the lower left image Big Van educator Irene Puerto guides La Serena City Hall employees in effective science and technology communications, and at lower right, students from La Serena’s Trinity School enjoy the cookies they used to explore moon phases.(Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA)
Una semana de entretención, aprendizaje e incluso de humor destacó la 5ta versión del programa anual de Gemini Viaje al Universo el cual se “repartió” en las aulas locales. “Fue un año excepcional”, dijo la jefa del programa Ma. Antonieta García. “Es obvio que explorar y aprender con científicos de un observatorio siempre es el núcleo del programa, pero este año se incluyó una buena dósis de humor”. Las risas eran respuesta a los tres invitados especiales provenientes de España , The Big Van: “Científicos Sobre Ruedas.”
“A veces, basta el tono en la voz solamente para gatillar la curiosidad de un alumno”, señaló Irene Puerto, una de los tres componentes del grupo de Big Van. “¡Compartir risas mientras aprendes es muy valioso!” agregó Javier Santaolalla. Puerto, Santaolalla y Alberto Vivó, fueron los responsables de muchas de las carcajadas en los colegios visitados. “Aún así, el aspecto central del programa anual, Viaje al Universo son los científicos de los observatorios locales, quienes comparten su trabajo con los estudiantes e inspiran a la próxima generación de científicos e investigadores,” agrega García.
Rebeca López, profesora del Colegio Carlos Condell de la Haza, comparte su impresión, “ Traer la ciencia hasta las salas es maravilloso, pero presentarla de una manera tan inusual y divertida es muchísimo mejor”. Los estudiantes que participaron de las actividades también se mostraron felices con el programa, como por ejemplo un par de alumnos de 4to básico del Colegio San Nicolás quienes dijeron, “¡aprender las fases de la luna usando las galletas que después comíamos era muy divertido!”
Cada año, los astrónomos y quienes trabajan en observatorios y universidades en La Serena, desarrollan presentaciones especialmente dirigidas para motivar la interacción de los alumnos en Viaje al Universo. “Nuestra meta es enseñar haciendo, tocando y sintiendo lo que normalmente se encuentra solo en libros,” dice Amelia Ramírez, astrónomo de la Universidad de La Serena. “Contar con la presencia de astrónomos que observan nuestros cielos chilenos quienes presentan su trabajo a nuestros estudiantes, junto a muchas otras actividades, es simplemente un sueño para nuestro colegio”, señaló enfático Wilson González Sulantay Director del Colegio San Martín de Porres.
El programa concluyó el viernes 23 de octubre, cuando los funcionarios del Departamento de Turismo de la Municipalidad de La Serena participaron en un curso de capacitación dictado por los científicos de Big Van sobre cómo comunicar efectivamente la ciencia.
Continuando con el entusiasmo de la semana pasada, durante las próximas semanas Gemini recibirá a cinco alumnos y un profesor de cada uno de los establecimientos participantes, quienes serán visitas especiales en el telescopio de Gemini Sur, ubicado en Cerro Pachón, en Vicuña. Mientras esta visita “tras las cámaras” cierra formalmente el programa de 2015, García agrega que los alumnos “ Pueden esperar muchísimas más sorpresas para el próximo año!!”
On Monday, October 19th, the White House hosted the second ever Astronomy Night. My name is Alexis Acohido, I’m the current Public Information and Outreach intern at Gemini Observatory, and I was fortunate enough to participate in this event! In addition, I also live-Tweeted from the White House lawn via the Gemini Observatory Twitter account.
Setting Up For the Event
On Monday morning, I made my way to the National Science Foundation (NSF) building to help load and transport equipment. NSF has invested over five billion dollars in ground-based astronomy over the last 20 years, leading to countless major discoveries ranging from exoplanets to the expansion of the Universe, as well as technological advances that span adaptive optics to radio astronomy techniques. NSF provides the majority of the funding for the Gemini Observatory, and also funds the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), all of whom were represented at Astronomy Night.
We made our way to the Northeast gate of the White House at noon and after making our way through security with our equipment, we began setting up the NSF activities booth.
Our booth focused on spectroscopy in astronomy, so we demonstrated various wavelengths of light – from ultraviolet to radio! NRAO even brought a radio telescope to demonstrate radio waves.
Further away from the booths, on a darker part of the lawn, NOAO and AUI set up optical telescopes.
Invited groups begin setting up their booths on the northern part of the lawn.
Telescopes were set up on the southern part of the lawn — where it’s darker.
One group had brought a portable planetarium, not unlike Gemini’s StarLab.
I was fairly excited to be at the White House!
NRAO’s “itty-bitty” radio telescope.
The finished NSF booth!
The Kamaʻāina Observatory Experience
In the early afternoon, the White House released a fact sheet about programs that President Obama would mention in his opening remarks – including the Kamaʻāina Observatory Experience. So, at 3:00 pm Ka’iu Kimura from ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, Bob Kirshner from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and myself left the White House grounds for an interview session on the new program.
The KamaʻāinaObservatory Experience is a new opportunity provided by the Maunakea Observatories in conjunction with ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center. According to the program’s website, “the Kama‘āina Observatory Experience will provide local residents with an opportunity to visit the summit, see world-class telescopes, and learn about the mountain in a holistic manner.” Residents 16 and older with a Hawai‘i ID will be able to register for free. These guided, monthly tours of the Maunakea telescopes are planned to begin in early 2016!
Ka‘iu Kimura; interviewed on the Kama‘āina Observatory Experience.
Ka’iu and myself (left) in front of the north side of the White House.
The Event
Next, we made our way back to the White House lawn and completed some finishing touches as the sun sunk in the west.
White House staff visit the NSF booth prior to the evening event.
One of the NOAO telescopes was pointed at the moon and I was able to take this practice image using the telescope’s eyepiece attachment that was fitted on my cellphone camera!
The President presents his opening remarks in front of the White House.
Around 7:00 pm the President gave his opening remarks. He thanked everyone for coming and announced new Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program initiatives around the country, including the Kama‘āina Observatory Experience. Of the program he said, “Eight observatories in Hawaii will offer all of the residents of that state free, guided tours. They didn’t do that when I was in high school. Wish we had thought that up earlier!”
It’s incredibly gratifying to not only be a part of Gemini, who is one of the sponsors of the Kama‘āina Observatory Experience, but for President Obama to acknowledge the program!
The President also mentioned special guests who were there that evening, they included:
Senator and former Astronaut Bill Nelson from Florida;
Science Advisor to the President John Holdren;
Head of NASA Charlie Bolden and 11 NASA Astronauts;
Mae Jameson, the first African-American Woman in space;
Bill Nye the Science Guy;
The MythBusters (who were gracious enough to let me take a picture with them!)
I got a picture with Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from the MythBusters. I didn’t know whether I was shaking because I was star-struck or because the temperature was in the 40’s.
After concluding his brief remarks, the crowd (including children of all ages) broke up into groups visiting the telescopes and booths distributed around the lawn.
The groups visit other booths.
Conditions couldn’t have been better that night! There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and while there’s a good amount of light pollution in DC, we were able to obtain fairly clear images of objects observed through the telescopes.
Groups that came to the NSF booth seemed to enjoy our spectra demonstrations. We used ultraviolet (UV) flashlights and detectors to view the effects of UV light, we also used rudimentary “spectroscopes” to look at emission lines of gases from different gas emission tubes, and finally we featured a radio telescope that guests were able to move and manipulate to pick up radio waves.
The spectroscopy demos were really great at night! Ivy Kupec and Mangala Sharma from NSF present UV and visible light demos in this image.
I was in charge of running the infrared demonstration. We had television remotes and a camera with a live feed on a monitor. TV remotes give off infrared light (which is invisible to the human eye) when a button is pressed. I then instructed the guests to point the TV remotes into the camera, which was hooked up to a live feed on the monitor. While we couldn’t see the infrared light being emitted from the remotes, the camera was able to detect it and showed a faint red beam of light on the screen! Gemini has two of the most advanced optical/infrared telescopes on our planet, so I was able to segue into the kind of infrared astronomy Gemini does, as well as mention the Gemini telescopes’ unique silver mirror coating that allows us to take better quality infrared observations.
At the end of the night, the guests were treated to a question and answer session from the MythBusters and Bill Nye the Science Guy while we broke down our booths.
The closing Q&A session from the MythBusters and Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Overall the event was fantastic. It was a very rewarding experience for me to promote the astronomy that’s being done in Hawai’i and Gemini in particular. It’s also very encouraging to have a President who is willing to put such an emphasis on STEM education.
Celine introducing her talk about Gender Equity at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo’s Science and Technology Building.
On Monday, September 21st, former Gemini Adaptive Optics Scientist Celine d’Orgeville gave an enlightening talk titled: “Gender Equity Issues in Astronomy: Facts, Fiction, and what the Adaptive Optics Community Can Do to Close the Gap” at the Science and Technology Building at the University of Hawai‘i Hilo.
What’s Happening to Women in Academia?
While Celine conducted most of her surveys in the Adaptive Optics (AO) field, most of her research can be applied to all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. There is low representation of women in senior academic positions such as professorships. There are also gender imbalances at every level of an academic career pathway. Women that may be interested in STEM careers are lost at every educational transition. While women were originally discouraged from pursuing higher education, the US college enrollment parity was reached in 1980, meaning that there are equal numbers of men and women going to college. This supposes that there is something else that influences the gender disparity. Celine went on to address possible causes for gender disparities.
Society and Culture
Gender stereotypes and biases pervade everyday culture. For example, if someone were asked to describe a scientist, one will usually describe a white male. There’s also a “stereotype threat”, where a woman’s performance may be affected by how they are perceived or even how they perceive themselves. Everyone, male and female is implicitly (unconsciously) biased, whether they like it or not. 75% of men and women do not associate “female” with “career” as readily as “female” and “family”.
Workplace Structure and Culture
There’s a lack of family friendly policies as well as a lack of women mentors and visibility of such mentors. Nursing rooms or child care facilities are rare in most institutions, placing a burden on parents, mothers in particular. Several theories and patterns of workplace behaviors also work against women moving up in their careers.
Individual Abilities and Behaviors
Extensive studies have been conducted and there are NO differences between men and women in natural STEM abilities. It’s possible that differences in confidence levels and leadership styles between the sexes may contribute to gender disparity. Celine’s research has also shown that, in heterosexual couples, if one person were to have to relocate for work, then women would overwhelmingly follow their male counterparts, leading to gaps in or a discontinuation of their academic progress.
Women in the AO Field
Celine conducted recent surveys in the adaptive optics field, both with an institutional survey authorized by the Australian National University (ANU) Human Ethics Committee, and a self-reported survey. The institutional survey showed that the AO field has 18% female representation. The gender surveys asked questions about education background and AO discipline, employment, and family situation, and the comparisons were in percent of participants per gender. Listed are some of the results from the surveys:
No significant gender bias in the type of degree held
More women choose to study physics/astrophysics rather than engineering and computer science
Men on average got their degrees earlier than women; 50% of men obtained their degrees prior to 2002, where 50% of women obtained their degrees prior to 2007
Relatively more women (65% of those surveyed) work in astronomy than men (50% of those surveyed)
More women at the graduate and post doc levels, but underrepresentation at the associate professor and management levels
Men enjoy more stable employment than women, but there is equal distribution between men and women in full-time/part-time employment
On average, women working in AO are younger than men; this seems to correlate with the year of degree distribution
Relatively more women than men don’t have children
Women took 3.5 times longer parental leave than men
What Can the AO Community Do to Reach for Gender Equity?
Short-term
Conference organization
Adopt Gender Equity and Anti-harassment policies
Monitor and publish gender demographics
Increase female representation in invited talks and presentations
Create and advertise a list of “women in AO”
Provide on-site child care services or child care support to conference participants
AO institutions, departments, companies
Create a local Gender Access and Equity Committee
Monitor and publish gender demographics
Adopt best practices like family-friendly meeting hours, children on-site policy, and family/parenting rooms
Long-term
Conference organization
Repeat/refine AO gender survey
Discuss pros/cons of author-blind abstract review
Possibly include Gender Equity Session
AO institutions, departments, companies
Review existing policies and perform climate surveys, then implement best practices based on the results
Commitment to gender parity practices by those in leadership roles
Involve students and talk about gender issues
Conclusion
Celine says that waiting for women to fill the workforce pipeline is not enough, active measures are required to encourage women to study and stay in the STEM fields. Actions to improve balance between work and home life will benefit both men and women, and more diversity in the STEM fields will benefit science and society at large.
Hoy el Observatorio Gemini dio el puntapié inicial a la semana de su programa Viaje al Universo con una ceremonia oficial que se realizó en la Universidad de La Serena. Este programa anual consiste en una inmersión de una semana de entretención, enfocada en el aprender haciendo de estudiantes y profesores locales.
Fueron los invitados internacionales Big Van “Científicos sobre Ruedas, presentes en este evento, los que se refirieron al atractivo del programa. “Estamos muy contentos de poder relacionar a los estudiantes entre sí y hacerlos reir porque, aunque quizás alguno de ellos quizás no lo sepan, están aprendiendo ciencia! ”, señaló Alberto Vivó uno de los tres miembros del grupo. Más información de este grupo en: http://www.thebigvantheory.com)
Por su parte el Vicerector de la Universidad de La Serena, Dr Jorge Catalán Ahumada, enfatizó los lazos que que Gemini ha sostenido hace largo tiempo con Gemini, a la vez de realzar la importancia de trabajar en conjunto con la Escuela de Astronomía y Física.
“Nosotros en Gemini nos sentimos muy contentos de contar con muchos socios nuevos que nos acompañan en este esfuerzo este año”, mencionó la Sub Directora de Gemini Nancy Levenson. “Es una señal de impacto cuando nuestra comunidad da un paso adelante para participar activamente de nuestro trabajo”, agregó.
Erich Wenderoth, astrónomo de Gemini y participante regular en las salas de clases, agrega que su experiencia en las aulas le sirve de inspiración. “Me llena de energía hacer lo que hago con los alumnos. Me alegraría muchísimo si el día de mañana un joven astrónomo se me acerca y me recuerda de alguna charla que yo haya dado en su colegio en La Serena!”. Durante el resto de la semana se han calendarizado distintos programas que llegarán a los alumnos y profesores, liderados por ingenieros y científicos, además de los integrantes de The Big Van “Científicos Sobre Ruedas”. Estas visitas contemplan clases interactivas realizadas por el staff de los observatorios de la Asociación de Universidades para la Investigación en Astronomía (AURA) en Chile (Gemini, Cerro Tololo, LSST), Las Campanas, El Telescopio Gigante de Magallanes (GMT), la Oficina de Protección de los Cielos del Norte de Chile (OPCC) y de la Universidad de La Serena. Además, las actividades de esta semana incluyen el Planetario Móvil, actividades familiares y talleres de capacitación.
Además de las visitas a los colegios, se contempla un par de presentaciones abiertas para la comunidad. La primera agendada para el grupo Big Van “Científicos Sobre Ruedas” a realizarse en el Lighthouse CoffeeShop (Matta #570 La Serena) el martes 20 de octubre a las 18:30 donde las entradas ya encuentran totalmente agotadas para asistir al Café ConCiencia. Sin embargo, se ha programado una segunda presentación abierta de los españoles a realizarse en el Colegio St. Mary’s School – El Milagro que se realizará el día miércoles 21 (inscripción previa y gratuita en el mismo colegio). Asímismo, se realizará un panel de discusión sobre carreras profesionales y técnicas que se realizan en un Observatorio, el cual se llevará a cabo el 22 de octubre en dependiencias del Colegio San Joaquín de 15:30 a 17:00 horas. Para finalizar, el día viernes 23 de octubre se realizará un taller dirigido especialmente para el
Departamento de Turismo de la Municipalidad de La Serena denominado “Cómo comunicar efectivamente sobre Astronomía.”
Entre las autoridades locales que participaron en la ceremonia de inauguración se encontraban el Concejal Robinson Hernández, en representación del Alcalde de La Serena; la SubDirectora de Gemini Nancy Levenson; el Vicerector de la Universidad de La Serena Dr. Jorge Catalán Ahumada y representantes de los auspiciadores de “Viaje al Universo”, quienes en conjunto con profesores y personeros locales dieron el corte de cinta inicial.
