Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting

1. Gemini Warrick Couch, UNSW Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

2. Taking stock over the last decade….. Australian Astronomy: Beyond 2000 – “The first priority of the astronomical community remains the same as it was in 1989, viz. to obtain significant access to a large optical/ir telescope. …Australia should immediately accept the invitation to join ESO and participate in the world’s premier astronomy project, the VLT….Membership of ESO (~$5M per annum) will maintain Australia’s place among its peers for the foreseeable future…” 1995 1995 Application to the MNRF-1 program for funding to join ESO unsuccessful, despite being one of the highest ranked proposals scientifically. Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

3. Taking stock over the last decade….. Australia joins the International Gemini Project as a 4.76% share partner, through the provision of A$17.9M of funding from DETYA & ARC. Other partners (shares): USA (50%), UK (25%), Ca (15%), Chile (5%), Arg (2.5%), Brazil (2.5%). As Australia’s signatory to the Gemini Agreement, ARC has responsibility for participation in Gemini and funds (through the LIEF) scheme the annual ‘operations’ costs. 1997 1999 ‘1st light’ on Gemini North 2000 Scientific observations commence on Gemini North; ‘1st light’ on Gemini South 2001 Scientific observations commence on Gemini South Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

4. Taking stock over the last decade….. 2001 Chile announces its intent to relinquish its 5% share. 2001 Bid for MNRF-2 funding to ‘double’ Australia’s share in Gemini successful (at 85% level). 2002 Australia negotiates purchase of 30% of Chile’s share, increasing its share by 1.43% (to 6.19%). Capital cost paid for from MNRF; operations costs to be paid for from MNRF for the 5 years of the program (2003-2007) 2003 Australia starts receiving extra telescope time 6.19% share  12 nights per telescope per year Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

5. First 5 years of Gemini usage 2000-2004 Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

6. Australian Gemini Users Survey • Goals: • To conduct an ‘audit’ of Australia’s use of its Gemini time and what the returns have been in terms of useful data, scientific results, publications and postgraduate training (driven by requests for such information from NTAC and funding agency). • To use this as an opportunity to identify problems with the observing process and ‘bottle-necks’ in converting data into science. • Surveyed all Australian astronomers who had been allocated ATAC time in the semesters 2001A – 2004A inclusive: • 67 queue programs (SRB=1-4) and 2 classical programs totaling 644 hrs

7. 30% 30% Program completion statistics (01A-04A) 25% 25% 20% SRB=1 38% 31% 31% 31% • Publications • 3 papers published/in press (lead time 1.5-2.5 yrs) • 5 papers submitted/soon to be submitted • 8 further papers ‘promised’ 45% of programs got zero data SRB=2 0% Only 5 programs fully completed with data to spec 75% SRB=3 17% 8% 8% 0% COMPLETE 50-100% 0-50% NO DATA %use<%obs

8. 2 World class capabilities “The GDDS represents a very significant achievement, both scientifically and technically.” (Richard Ellis, Caltech) Gemini imaging of the z ~ 10 candidate “The image is approximately one magnitude deeper and has better spatial resolution than the existing H-band VLT image. The object is not detected in our new data” (Malcolm Bremer, Bristol) Gemini/NIRI(Bremer et al. in press) 22.64 ksec at H, 0.47 arcsec FWHM HAB > 26.3 (3 s) 7.4 s non-detection VLT/ISAAC (Pelló et al. 2004) 13.86 ksec at H, 0.5 arcsec FWHM HAB = 25.0 ± 0.25 Glazebrook et al., Nature, 2004

9. Australian Gemini Instrumentation Contracts • NIFS construction contract – RSAA [US$3M] • GSAOI construction contract – RSAA [US$3M] • GIRMOS – concept design study – AAO [US$300K] • WFMOS – feasibility study – AAO [US$100K] Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

10. Near-term future of Gemini • Additional nights on Gem-S: have just negotiated the purchase of 8 additional nights in each of the semesters 2005B, 2006A & 2006B from the UK (to be paid from MNRF funding). May well be further opportunities to do this in the future.ATAC to allocate time, but to programs of larger scope and potential impact than are currently supported. • New instrument capabilities on both telescopes • Time swaps with other 8-10m telescopes (Keck/HIRES  Michelle; VLT/UVES  Michelle/T-ReCS?) Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

11. GMOS GNIRS T-ReCS bHROS NICI FLAMINGOS-2 GSAOI MCAO GMOS NIRI MICHELLE ALTAIR+LGS NIFS Instrument Summary Mauna Kea Cerro Pachon In operation Commissioning to start in 2005 Instrument Under Development

12. Long-term vision for Gemini Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

13. 2003 2004 2005 Aspen 2003 Workshop • Meeting held in June 2003 • Attended by ~100 astronomers which represented interests of many more astronomers world wide • Key product of the meeting was a set of fundamental questions in astronomy that would serve as the basis of the scientific strategic plan for the Observatory

14. MATTER LIFE ENERGY 2003 2004 2005 Aspen 2003 Workshop • Matter • How do galaxies form? • What is the nature of dark matter on galactic scales? • What is the relationship between super massive black holes and galaxies? • Energy • What is dark energy? • How did the cosmic “dark age” end? • Life • How common are extrasolar planets, including earth-like planets? • How do star and planetary systems form? • How do stars process elements into the chemical building blocks of life?

15. Minimum core set of instruments required to address these questions: • Wide Field Multi-Object Spectrograph (WFMOS) – optical spec with 1.5deg FoV, multiplex gain of ~5000, R=1,000-40,000. • Extreme AO Coronograph (ExAO-C) – next generation AO imager with spatial resolution of 0.02arcsec and contrast factor of ~107. • High-Resolution Near-Infrared Spectrograph (HRNIRS) – spectral resolution in the range R = 40,000 – 70,000, with MCAO-fed MOS. Plus…. • Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO) system – seen to have sufficiently high potential to warrant further investigation. Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

16. Highest Ranked by GSC Next Steps in the Aspen Development Program… ExAOC (UCSC) ExAOC (UA) HRNIRS (ATC) HRNIRS (NOAO) WFMOS (AAO) GLAO (HIA/UA/UD) NOW Feasibility studies Competitive Concept Design Studies

17. ‘Subaru’ option for WFMOS DRAFT White Paper in work for Gemini Board Executive Summary A far-reaching collaboration is proposed between the Gemini and Subaru Observatories. This collaboration will include both technical and scientific components and will be specifically targeted to answer key questions in astronomy that are of common interest to both the Gemini and Subaru communities. The program envisioned will efficiently use the resources and strengths intrinsic to both observatories and involve the deployment of a wide field spectrometer at Subaru and high contrast coronagraphic imager at Gemini to perform legacy-class research on dark matter, dark energy, galaxy formation, and extra-solar planets. Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004

18. Why Deploy WFMOS on Subaru? • Stiff telescope structure • Interchangeable top end with prime focus instrument experience • Wide field of view • 2° corrector already planned • Excellent image quality • Multiple Nasmyth platforms • FMOS already under construction • Supercomputer on site

19. 2005 and the US$75M question: • Design and feasibility studies for Aspen instruments will be completed in Feb 2005, providing firm costings. • Total cost of the ‘top 3’ Aspen instrument package (WFMOS, ExAO-C, HRNIRS) likely to be ~US$75M [Aus share @6.19% = US$4.64M = A$6.19M] • Partner countries will have to determine if and how they can raise their share of the US$75M price tag in 2005. • US has already committed US$15M over 2006-2010 period to ensure Aspen instr. procurement process continues. Investment in Aspen instrument package will see significant scientific & financial returns to Australia – AAO likely to win major components of WFMOS construction contract + strong science interest in WFMOS

20. 31/12/12: Current Gemini Agreement expires • Partners will need to decide whether to extend agreement or whether to close the facilities • Any partner at this point can elect not to continue (in which they are out with no claim to prior contributions); remaining partners then decide on new shares (could increase or decrease). Australian investment in Gemini up to this point will have been at least A$65M. (Unlikely to have reaped any major scientific return from WFMOS by 2012.) Facilities & Infrastructure Working Groups Meeting UNSW, 17 December 2004