Todd Boroson and Bob Schommer
Each of the Gemini partner countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil) has a national Gemini office that will provide support to its astronomers. In the US, that office is the US Gemini Program (USGP) at NOAO in Tucson and La Serena. While the Gemini Observatory will assist observers who come to use the telescope, the USGP will provide all assistance before and after the observing run. This includes the proposal and time allocation process, assistance for proposal writers and those planning their observations, support for users and prospective users to understand the instrumental capabilities and performance, as well as the provision of and support for data reduction software.
Three NOAO scientists will play a critical role in assisting US investigators planning Gemini observations. Mike Merrill will serve as NOAO Mirror Scientist for the Gemini facility instrument NIRI (the Near Infra-Red Imager). Patrice Bouchet will serve as Mirror Scientist for the OSCIR mid-infrared camera and spectrometer on loan from the University of Florida, and Tod Lauer and Steve Ridgway will serve as Mirror Scientists for the UH adaptive optics system Hokupa'a with the QUIRC infrared camera. These Mirror Scientists are already up to speed on Gemini instruments, and will be reviewing documentation, developing data reduction procedures, and responding to queries from investigators. If you have questions about the use of these instruments on Gemini, feel free to contact the US Mirror Scientists.
US investigators planning to submit proposals for time on the Gemini North telescope should also become familiar with the Gemini HelpDesk. The HelpDesk is the primary means by which individuals can make requests for information about science operations on Gemini. Investigators submit queries via the Web or by e-mail, and the query will be answered automatically by the HelpDesk software at the International Gemini Observatory. If an answer to the question is not available, the query will be routed to the national project office of the person asking the question (for US investigators, this is NOAO, where our Mirror Scientists will search out the answer and respond to the query). The answer will be saved in the HelpDesk system to be used again for similar queries. If Mike, Patrice, Tod, or Steve are unable to answer the question, they can call on Gemini experts at IGO and in other partner countries to find an answer. The Gemini HelpDesk will be available via http://www.us-gemini.noao.edu/ at the time that the first call for proposals is issued. Investigators with questions about the proposal process itself can send e-mail to noaoprop-help@noao.edu, and a member of the NOAOprop Team (Jeannette Barnes, Dave Bell, Jane Kennedy, or Caty Pilachowski) will respond promptly with an answer!