Target of Opportunity Observing in Queue Mode at the Gemini North Observatory

Details Target of Opportunity Observing in Queue Mode at the Gemini North Observatory Target of Opportunity Observing in Queue Mode at the Gemini North Observatory

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21347610r&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #476.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.442

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The Gemini Observatories primarily operate a multi-instrument queue, with observers selecting observations that are best suited to weather and seeing conditions. Queue operations give higher ranked programs a greater chance for completion than lower ranked programs requesting the same conditions and instrument configuration. Queue observing naturally lends itself to Target of Opportunity (ToO) support since the time required to switch between programs and instruments is very short, and the staff observer is trained to operate all the available instruments and modes.
Gemini Observatory has supported pre-approved ToO programs since beginning queue operations, and has implemented a rapid (less than 15 minutes response time) ToO mode since 2005. The rapid response ToO mode has thus far been exclusively utilized by the Gemini community for optical and near-IR follow-up of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), primarily discovered by the Swift satellite. We discuss the ToO implementation at Gemini Observatory including the ToO user interface and the procedures followed by observatory staff astronomers once a ToO trigger is received. We present the statistics of 4 years of rapid ToOs at Gemini North Observatory, and the advances in our understanding of GRBs, their host galaxies and the intergalactic medium that this important mode has enabled. Finally we discuss recent changes in both software and policy to improve standard and rapid ToO support at the Gemini Observatories.
The Gemini Observatory is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: the National Science Foundation (United States), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom), the National Research Council (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), the Australian Research Council (Australia), Ministério da Ciìncia e Tecnologia (Brazil), and SECYT (Argentina)

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