21 March 2023 US National Gemini Office in the NOIRLab era
Vinicius M. Placco, Letizia Stanghellini
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

This article presents an overview of the US National Gemini Office (US NGO) and its role within the International Gemini Observatory user community. Throughout the years, the US NGO charter changed considerably to accommodate the evolving needs of astronomers and the observatory. The current landscape of observational astronomy requires effective communication between stakeholders and reliable/accessible data reduction tools and products, which minimizes the time between data gathering and publication of scientific results. Because of that, the US NGO heavily invests in producing data reduction tutorials and cookbooks. Recently, the US NGO started engaging with the Gemini user community through social media, and the results have been encouraging, increasing the observatory’s visibility. The US NGO staff developed tools to assess whether the support provided to the user community is sufficient and effective, through website analytics and social media engagement numbers. These quantitative metrics serve as the baseline for internal reporting and directing efforts to new or current products. In the era of the National Science Foundation’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), the US NGO is well-positioned to be the liaison between the US user base and the Gemini Observatory. Furthermore, collaborations within NOIRLab programs, such as the Astro Data Lab and the Time Allocation Committee, enhance the US NGO outreach to attract users and develop unique products. The future landscape laid out by the Astro 2020 report confirms the need to establish such synergies and provide more integrated user support services to the astronomical community at large.

© 2023 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
Vinicius M. Placco and Letizia Stanghellini "US National Gemini Office in the NOIRLab era," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 9(1), 017003 (21 March 2023). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.9.1.017003
Received: 16 December 2022; Accepted: 23 February 2023; Published: 21 March 2023
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KEYWORDS
Gemini Observatory

Telescopes

Equipment

Astronomy

Observational astronomy

Observatories

Web 2.0 technologies

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