(adapted from an article in the February 2008 AAO Newsletter)
Australia has a 6.2% share of time on the twin 8 metre telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and Cerro Pachon in Chile operated by the Gemini Observatory, amounting to approximately one week per telescope per semester. The Australian Gemini Office (AusGO) coordinates Australia's usage of Gemini time by issuing calls for proposals; acting as first point of contact for prospective Australian applicants; technically assessing proposals on behalf of the Australian Time Assignment Committee (ATAC); assisting successful Australian Principal Investigators with preparing their queue-scheduled observing programs; providing guidance in how to reduce and analyse new and archival data from Gemini; and helping promote Australian science from Gemini to the media and general public. In addition, AusGO oversees aspects of Australian bids and contracts for Gemini instrumentation, such as the Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) and the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) built by the ANU's Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA), and the AAO-led proposal for a Wide-Field Multi-Object Spectrograph (WFMOS). By a special arrangement with the Carnegie Observatories, AusGO is also facilitating Australian access to 30 nights on the twin Magellan 6.5m telescopes in Chile over Semesters 2007A-2008B.
AusGO has always been a "distributed office" in that it is managed by the Australian Gemini Scientist (AGS) for a 3 year term, assisted by two Deputy Gemini Scientists (DGS), each of whom would usually be located at a different institution from the AGS. In this way, Gemini expertise and visibility is better spread across the community than if all AusGO staff were concentrated in one location. AusGO also relies on some "honorary associates" to provide support for more specialised instruments. Both the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) Investment Plan for Radio and Optical Astronomy, and the the recent DEST review panel's report recommended that the AAO host AusGO for the 5 year timeframe of NCRIS funding, in line with the AAO taking on the role of Australia's national optical/infrared observatory. In January 2008, AusGO began the transition from RSAA to its new home within the AAO, where new offices on the ground floor of the Massey Building have recently been completed to accommodate the new staff.
In late 2007, an international recruitment and interview process was carried out to appoint the new AGS, and one DGS to be based at the AAO (a second DGS to be based at RSAA is currently being recruited). The new AGS for the period 2008-2010 is Dr Stuart Ryder, previously a Research Astronomer at the AAO. Since coming to the AAO in 1999, Stuart has been commissioning astronomer for IRIS2; instrument scientist for IRIS2, UCLES, and UHRF; and Technical Secretary to ATAC, PATT, and AATAC. Since 2001 Stuart has volunteered his services to AusGO as Contact Scientist for instruments including NIRI, Altair, bHROS, and Phoenix, and attended Gemini meetings in Vancouver, Tucson, and Iguassu Falls.
The new AAO-based DGS will also be well-known to many AAT observers. Dr Terry Bridges was the AAO/UK 2dF Research Fellow from 1999-2003 before returning to his native Canada to work at Queens University in Kingston. Terry is a very experienced GMOS user, and will take up his appointment in May 2008. We are looking forward to having Terry back with us again, in what promises to be a very busy year for Gemini with NICI, Flamingos-2, and GSAOI to be commissioned on Gemini South, and GNIRS being recommissioned on Gemini North.
One of the first tasks to be carried out by the new AusGO, even before its formal move to the AAO, was the recruitment of the 2007/08 Australian Gemini Undergraduate Summer Students (AGUSS). Under this scheme, 3 Australian undergraduate students get to spend 10 weeks working at the Gemini South headquarters in La Serena, Chile on a research project supervised by Gemini staff. In addition to visits to the Gemini South telescope, they will also participate in a lecture course offered by CTIO in conjunction with the US-equivalent Research Experience for Undegraduates scheme. The 2007/08 AGUSS recipients are Emily Craven (U. Adelaide), Jacinta Delhaize (U. Western Australia), and Richard Linossi (Monash U.).
The Gemini Observatory publishes its own twice-yearly newsletter,
Gemini
Focus. Printed copies are distributed by AusGO to interested Australian
readers. If you would like to receive a printed copy, please let us
know by e-mailing "ausgo -@- aao.gov.au". We plan to publish Gemini news
and items with a more specific Australian focus in the
AAO Newsletter.
Australian Gemini Office, ausgo -@- aao.gov.au
The Australian Gemini Office (AusGO) is operated by the
Anglo-Australian Observatory (