Gemini observatory

The Observatoire Gemini is an astronomical observatory made up of two Télescope S of 8 m, for each hemisphere. The telescopes were financed by a consortium of institutions coming from seven countries, that is to say the the United States, the the United Kingdom, the Canada, the Brésil, the Argentine, the Chile and the Australia. The observatory is managed by the Association off Universities for Research in Astronomy (WILL A). The offices of the observatory are located at Hilo, on the Large Island of Hawaii and with Serena with the Chile.

Design

Each Gemini telescope consists of a ceramics high efficiency mirror, provided by Corning Glass. This mirror of a diameter of 8,1 meters has a 20 centimetres thickness, for a mass of 22,2 tons. These mirrors, called Lucky Luke and Jolly Jumper, were polished at REOSC with Saint-Pierre-of-Perray the with their 4 mirrors cousins (Joe, Jack, William and Averell) of VLT. The deformation of a mirror is corrected by a whole of 120 Actuateur S. (See Optique activates)

Gemini North

The first of the two telescopes, Gemini North, was completed in 1999 and began its scientific observations in 2000; it is located on the Mauna Kea at an altitude of 4200 Mr. It was baptized Frederick C. Gillett telescopes .

Gemini South

The second telescope, Gemini South, are located at 2715 m on the Cerro Pachón not far from the Télescope SOAR. They are located at a score of kilometers in the south of the observatory of the CTIO with which they share certain infrastructures. The telescope saw its first lights in 2000.

Administration

The international offices of the observatory are located at Hilo, Hawaii, on the campus of the university of Hawaii. The offices of the Gemini observatory to the Chile divide a campus with those of CTIO and SOAR in the town of Serena, with an about sixty kilometers of the telescope itself.

Observations

These two telescopes allow to the astronomers countries partners to observe the totality of the sky. These telescopes are among the largest astronomical observatories observing in the visible one and the infra-red. They are the only telescopes of 8 m accessible in the majority from the astronomers from the countries partners. The observatory maintains and develops an important park of instruments, of which a using system of adaptive optics of the stars Laser S which allow a correction of atmospheric turbulence in Real-time. The majority of the made observations with Gemini are made in mode “tail”; in this mode the observations are made at the time when the atmospheric conditions are adapted to carry out the program of observation. This mode of observation allows an optimal use of the time of telescope and avoids with the astronomers having observations in the course of having to move.

It is estimated that the construction of the telescopes cost approximately 184 million dollars and that one night of observation is worth 40.000 $.

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