By Eric Steinbring (Canadian Gemini Office, NRC Herzberg Astronomy & Astrophysics Research Centre)
(Cassiopeia – Summer 2024)
Call for Community Recommendations on the Gemini Strategic Plan
The Gemini Strategic Plan is the roadmap for how the Observatory will enable forefront scientific capability from both hemispheres. And now it’s time to shape the long-range strategy and set priorities for well into the next decade. For example, should Gemini develop new workhorse instruments for both sites, or tend to specialized instruments at each? What are the critical capabilities that instruments should have? Are there synergies with other space- and ground-based facilities that Gemini should prioritize; and what archival and data-reduction improvements would increase your scientific return the most? How can these best support Canada’s projects on the Thirty Meter Telescope, or say, the Habitable Worlds Observatory? This is a reminder of the invitation to submit brief community recommendations here. Details of the format to those reports and instructions for submission are available there. Reports are due by 13 September 2024. Where do you see Gemini best placed in the 2030s?