NOAO Currents

April 2008  •  Issue 2
 

Currents

Gemini Survey

The UK funding agency, the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), has indicated their interest in selling some of their Gemini time. Current discussions suggest that up to 8% of the total Gemini time may be available as a possible increment to the US share. As discussed in the related article in Currents, there may be advantages to seeking to acquire a larger share of Gemini time, as opposed to simply buying nights.

Question 1: Bearing in mind that any purchase will need to be accompanied by a marginal budgetary commitment, is there a strong need for the US to acquire additional nights on Gemini and should this be set as a high priority for NSF?

    Yes:

     No:

Question 2: Is there a benefit in seeking to acquire these through an additional share of Gemini as an alternative to simply buying nights?

    Yes:

     No:

If you have additional comments on either this issue or your survey responses, please add them below:

In this Issue

Currents is a sparkplug for communication between NOAO and our community. It provides updates—and solicits community input—on NOAO observing opportunities and NOAO programs and policies on a more rapid timescale than is possible with the quarterly NOAO Newsletter.

NOAO is the national center for ground-based nighttime astronomy in the United States and is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc. under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

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