Science Operations Announcements

Observing database offline for 2011A update

November 29th, 2010
The Gemini Observatory observing database will be offline on Wednesday December 1 while upgrades are performed in preparation for the start of the 2011A semester. Affected applications include the Observing Tool (OT) and the web report forms. The new 2011A OT should be available on Thursday December 2 and will be required for all subsequent fetch/store operations. Please check this site for further announcements.

Phoenix to be removed in January 2011

November 25th, 2010

Phoenix has been a visitor instrument on Gemini South since the beginning of science operations in 2002.  It has been scientifically productive, with an active user community, and the observatory is grateful to NOAO for the long-term loan. However, Gemini is about to commission new Gemini South instrumentation and is actively engaged in a transition to operations without the UK as a partner.  Together, these fundamentally limit both available staff effort and instrument ports, and Gemini can no longer afford to offer Phoenix for regular use.

Mac support for 2011A PIT with Java 6

August 17th, 2010
As announced previously, the Gemini software tools are being updated to use the currently supported version of Java (Java 6). The Phase I Tool (PIT) will use Java 6 starting with the 2011A version to be released on September 1, 2010. This change will be transparent to most users. However, the new PIT will not run on PowerPC Macintosh computers since Apple does not provide Java 6 for these machines.

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