A progress report on the Gemini Telescopes
(7 December 1998)

Jean-René Roy


Telescopes

The final assembly of the Mauna Kea Gemini Telescope is rapidly taking place. Recent highlights have included completion of most systems of the coating chamber and first coating of the primary mirror on 2-3 December 1998. The MK telescope can now be driven in both azimuth and elevation at the same time, and servo tuning of both axes is complete; acquisition and guiding are being verified with a small alignment camera. Support of the primary mirror has been tested (using the dummy mirror), and all support units are working within the specifications. At the time you will read this note, more steps towards first light (planned for about mid-January 1999) will have been achieved.


The top end and secondary mirror support being installed on top of telescope structure. (Photograph 30 November 1998)
The top end, with the secondary mirror support in place, was lifted from the ground floor and assembled on the telescope structure on November 30th. The zerodur secondary mirror and the tip/tilt/chopping mechanism is in Hilo; they will be installed in early January 1999. The cassegrain rotator and cable wrap systems are now in Hawaii and ready to mount on the telescope.

The Hilo Gemini Headquarters are now complete and staff has moved in the new space; this is already a very busy place. Dedication took place with a very nice ceremony on 18 November 1998.

Work on the Cerro Pachon building and dome is close to completion. The telescope structure and mirror support are now in Chile, where they have been stored for assembly at a later time in 1999. It is likely that completion of the Gemini CP telescope could be accomplished well ahead of schedule.

Instrumentation

If progress with the Gemini telescopes and buildings is impressive and within schedule, the situation is much more difficult with the Gemini instrumentation. The Near Infrared Camera (NIRI) built by the University of Hawaii (PI: Klauss Hoddapp) is late by six months; it will be available in June 1999, instead of late 1998. More seriously, the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRS) built by NOAO has suffered a huge schedule slip, from early 2000 to very late in 2002 (and perhaps early 2003); it is now almost 3 years behind schedule, and its cost has increased dramatically. Steps are being taken in the USA to advance delivery of NIRS by as much as one year. The Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph built by NRC/HIA, the Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh and the University of Durham (UK) is also delayed by about 9 months, from late 1999 to the fall of 2000.

The Gemini and Keck observatories are organizing a workshop on ``lessons learned'' to understand the difficulties of building the complex instruments and handling the management problems of the large facilities like Gemini and Keck.

Coming events

The prime focus wavefront sensor and an alignment system are being set. The Gemini team has started a series of pointings of the Gemini MK telescope using a small telescope to test the telescope control system before putting in the mirrors.

The University of Hawaii infrared QUIRC camera will be used for first light and engineering testing of the telescope. The adaptive optics system of U of H will also be used for fine testing and to produce images of interest to the community and to the public. A 1024 x 1024 pixels CCD quick readout camera equiped with a set of filters, which is part of the Acquisition and Guiding unit, will also be used for optical imaging.

The Critical Design Review of the Adaptive Optics System (ALTAIR) being built by NRC/HIA will take place in Victoria in February 1999. Francois Rigaut, formerly from CFHT and ESO, is taking a position in the adaptive optics group at Gemini in Hilo. The project is also developing plans for a laser guide star system.

The dedication of Gemini North will take place on 25-26 June 1999.

We wish to congratulate the whole Gemini team for hard and competent work. Note: for more information, see www.gemini.edu, where you can also find the most recent issue of the Gemini Newsletter.

The back of the MK Gemini telescope with the Instrument Support Structure at cassegrain. Counterweights will be replaced as instruments are delivered. (Photograph 17 November 1998).

The Gemini Board members standing in front of the MK Gemini telescope. One sees the dummy steel mirror being in place for testing the support system of the primary mirror. (Photograph 17 November).

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