Historical Documents

Governance Documents

The Gemini Agreement between the Partners and the Parties of the Gemini consortium. The document covers construction, commissioning and operations of the Gemini Telescopes. This version is a "combined" version that merges the three amendments with the original agreement. The signed versions of The Gemini Agreement and of the amendments are available from the National Science Foundation.
The Fourth Amendment became effective January 1, 2013

Science Requirements Document (Version 3.0, November 1996) The purpose of the SRD is to identify the main scientific goals of the project and to provide a logical framework for the project staff to develop the engineering requirements for the telescope systems. This document is also available via our FTP server and from the Online Library as SPE-PS-G0001.

Science Operations Plan (75k PDF; Version 2.0)

This document presents a model for operations which is driven by the scientific aspirations of the partners. That partnership itself is a strong motivation for this approach. Flexible scheduling forces collegiality and collaboration, because the time is not scheduled a priori to one country, but is used for the most appropriate program in the queue. Decisions made on operations issues must benefit all the partners, not just those with the largest shares of time.

Strategic Plan (111k PDF, version 6.3, January 2005e Gemini Observatory's primary mission is to "fulfill the scientific aspirations of the Gemini astronomical communities by developing, operating and maintaining the Gemini telescopes as forefront Optical and IR facilities for astrophysical research. The Observatory should work in partnership with its communities to maintain excellence and cost effectiveness in the facilities, instrumentation, and in the support it provides to the entire Gemini user community." This strategic plan describes the role and evolution of the Science Operations Plan and the complementary role of the Development Programs in fulfilling this mission.

Science Programs There are several scientific programs planned for the Gemini Telescopes. The main themes of the programs are concerned with observing and understanding the origins and evolution of stars and planetary systems, of galaxies, and of the universe itself. The telescopes will be used to observe objects ranging in distance from within our own Solar System to within 10% of the observable horizon of the universe.

Examples of main themes are:

Future Gemini Instrumentation

"On a cold weekend over the 18-19 January 1997, astronomers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, United Kingdom and the United States met in Abingdon, just outside Oxford, England. Amongst the Medieval Abbey grounds and English gardens of Cosener's House, with swans drifting slowly by on the river, these forty-two astronomers settled down to chart the future scientific direction for the Gemini 8M Telescopes instrumentation program. The intent of this first instrumentation workshop was to ask what programs could and should be done on these two new telescopes in the early part of the next Century and how should these potential science programs impact our planning for future instruments?" - From the Foreword

Current Instrumentation

Gemini's current suite, providing detailed information on both North and South instruments, availability, Integration Time Calculators, and more.