Dr. Alison B. Peck Profile

Dr. Alison B. Peck

Program Director at National Science Foundation

SPIE Involvement:

Conference Program Committee | Author | Editor

Proceedings Article | 25 August 2022 Presentation + Paper

Gemini visiting instrument program

Hwihyun Kim, Alison Peck, Ruben Diaz, Andrew Adamson, Scot Kleinman

Proceedings Volume 12186, 121861C (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2630666

KEYWORDS: Gemini Observatory, Telescopes, Spectrographs, Spectroscopy, Polarimetry, Adaptive optics, Speckle, Observatories, Infrared spectroscopy, Stars

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Proceedings Article | 14 December 2020 Paper

On-sky commissioning of MAROON-X: a new precision radial velocity spectrograph for Gemini North

Andreas Seifahrt, Jacob Bean, Julian Stürmer, David Kasper, Luke Gers, Christian Schwab, Mathias Zechmeister, Guðmundur Stefánsson, Ben Montet, Leonardo Dos Santos, Alison Peck, John White, Eduardo Tapia

Proceedings Volume 11447, 114471F (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561564

KEYWORDS: Spectrographs, Gemini Observatory, Telescopes, Fiber couplers, Velocity measurements, Micro optics, Exoplanets, Space operations, James Webb Space Telescope, Spectral resolution

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Presentation + Paper

Gemini Infrared Multi-Object Spectrograph: preliminary design overview

Suresh Sivanandam, Scott Chapman, Darren Erickson, Paul Hickson, Simon Thibault, Marcin Sawicki, Adam Muzzin, Jennifer Dunn, Alison Peck, Scott Roberts, Kim Venn, Gaetano Sivo, Martin Tschimmel, David Henderson, Masen Lamb, Shaojie Chen, Saugata Dutt, Olivier Lardière, André Anthony, Alexis Hill, Denis Brousseau, Tristan Chabot

Proceedings Volume 11447, 114471A (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561607

KEYWORDS: Spectrographs, Astronomical imaging, Gemini Observatory, Infrared imaging, Infrared spectroscopy, Infrared radiation, Adaptive optics, Imaging systems, Spatial resolution, Spectral resolution

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Proceedings Article | 10 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

Visiting instruments as part of a strategic plan

Alison Peck, Andrew Adamson, Scot Kleinman, Laura Ferrarese, Stephen Goodsell, Markus Kissler-Patig

Proceedings Volume 10704, 107041Q (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2315870

KEYWORDS: Gemini Observatory, Telescopes, Polarimetry, Spectrographs, Infrared spectroscopy, Gemini Planet Imager, Observatories, Spectroscopy, Exoplanets, Aerospace engineering

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Proceedings Article | 10 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

Gemini infrared multi-object spectrograph: instrument overview

Suresh Sivanandam, Scott Chapman, Luc Simard, Paul Hickson, Kim Venn, Simon Thibault, Marcin Sawicki, Adam Muzzin, Darren Erickson, Roberto Abraham, Masayuki Akiyama, David Andersen, Colin Bradley, Raymond Carlberg, Shaojie Chen, Carlos Correia, Tim Davidge, Sara Ellison, Kamal El-Sankary, Gregory Fahlman, Masen Lamb, Olivier Lardière, Marie Lemoine-Busserolle, Dae-Sik Moon, Norman Murray, Alison Peck, Cyrus Shafai, Gaetano Sivo, Jean-Pierre Veran, Howard Yee

Proceedings Volume 10702, 107021J (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2313924

KEYWORDS: Spectrographs, Galactic astronomy, Adaptive optics, Telescopes, James Webb Space Telescope, Stars, Infrared spectroscopy, Infrared radiation, Gemini Observatory, Imaging spectroscopy

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

IGRINS at the Discovery Channel Telescope and Gemini South

Gregory Mace, Kimberly Sokal, Jae-Joon Lee, Heeyoung Oh, Chan Park, Hanshin Lee, John Good, Phillip MacQueen, Jae Sok Oh, Kyle Kaplan , Ben Kidder, Moo-Young Chun, In-Soo Yuk , Ueejeong Jeong, Soojong Pak, Kang-Min Kim, Jakyoung Nah, Sungho Lee, Young-Sam Yu, Narae Hwang, Byeong-Gon Park, Hwihyun Kim, Brian Chinn, Alison Peck, Ruben Diaz, Rene Rutten, Lisa Prato, George Jacoby, Frank Cornelius, Ben Hardesty, William DeGroff, Edward Dunham, Stephen Levine, Larissa Nofi, Ricardo Lopez-Valdivia, Alycia Weinberger, Daniel Jaffe

Proceedings Volume 10702, 107020Q (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2312345

KEYWORDS: Gemini Observatory, Telescopes, Observatories, Space telescopes, Astronomy, K band, Spectrographs, Stars, Electronics, Infrared spectroscopy

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The Immersion GRating INfrared Spectrometer (IGRINS) was designed for high-throughput with the expectation of being a visitor instrument at progressively larger observing facilities. IGRINS achieves R∼45000 and > 20,000 resolution elements spanning the H and K bands (1.45-2.5μm) by employing a silicon immersion grating as the primary disperser and volume-phase holographic gratings as cross-dispersers. After commissioning on the 2.7 meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory, the instrument had more than 350 scheduled nights in the first two years. With a fixed format echellogram and no cryogenic mechanisms, spectra produced by IGRINS at different facilities have nearly identical formats. The first host facility for IGRINS was Lowell Observatory’s 4.3-meter Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT). For the DCT a three-element fore-optic assembly was designed to be mounted in front of the cryostat window and convert the f/6.1 telescope beam to the f/8.8 beam required by the default IGRINS input optics. The larger collecting area and more reliable pointing and tracking of the DCT improved the faint limit of IGRINS, relative to the McDonald 2.7-meter, by ∼1 magnitude. The Gemini South 8.1-meter telescope was the second facility for IGRINS to visit. The focal ratio for Gemini is f/16, which required a swap of the four-element input optics assembly inside the IGRINS cryostat. At Gemini, observers have access to many southern-sky targets and an additional gain of ∼1.5 magnitudes compared to IGRINS at the DCT. Additional adjustments to IGRINS include instrument mounts for each facility, a glycol cooled electronics rack, and software modifications. Here we present instrument modifications, report on the success and challenges of being a visitor instrument, and highlight the science output of the instrument after four years and 699 nights on sky. The successful design and adaptation of IGRINS for various facilities make it a reliable forerunner for GMTNIRS, which we now anticipate commissioning on one of the 6.5 meter Magellan telescopes prior to the completion of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

Proceedings Article | 4 August 2014 Paper

The ALMA assembly, integration, and verification project: a retrospective analysis

B. Lopez, L. B. Knee, H. Jager, N. Whyborn, J. McMullin, R. Murowinski, A. Peck, S. Corder

Proceedings Volume 9150, 91500B (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2056310

KEYWORDS: Antennas, Telescopes, Observatories, Astronomy, Radio astronomy, Adaptive optics, Lead, Synthetic apertures, Calibration, Systems modeling

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The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a joint project between astronomical organizations in Europe, North America, and East Asia, in collaboration with the Republic of Chile. ALMA consists of 54 twelve-meter antennas and 12 seven-meter antennas operating as an aperture synthesis array in the (sub)millimeter wavelength range. Assembly, Integration, and Verification (AIV) of the antennas was completed at the end of the year 2013, while the final optimization and complete expansion to validate all planned observing modes will continue. This paper compares the actually obtained results of the period 2008-2013 with the baselines that had been laid out in the early project-planning phase (2005-2007). First plans made for ALMA AIV had already established a two-phased project life-cycle: phase 1 for setting up necessary infrastructure and common facilities, and taking the first three antennas to the start of commissioning; and phase 2 focused on the steady state processing of the remaining units. Throughout the execution of the project this lifecycle was refined and two additional phases were added, namely a transition phase between phases 1 and 2, and a closing phase to address the project ramp-down. A sub-project called Accelerated Commissioning and Science Verification (ACSV) was carried out during the year 2009 in order to provide focus to the whole ALMA organization, and to accomplish the start-of-commissioning milestone. Early phases of CSV focused on validating the basic performance and calibration. Over time additional observing modes have been validated as capabilities expanded both in hardware and software. This retrospective analysis describes the originally presented project staffing plans and schedules, the underlying assumptions, identified risks and operational models, among others. For comparison actual data on staffing levels, the resultant schedule, additional risks identified and those that actually materialized, are presented. The observed similarities and differences are then analyzed and explained, and corresponding lessons learned are presented.

Proceedings Article | 28 July 2010 Paper

ALMA: status report on construction and early results from commissioning

Richard Hills, Richard Kurz, Alison Peck

Proceedings Volume 7733, 773317 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.857017

KEYWORDS: Antennas, Adaptive optics, Optical correlators, Receivers, Astronomy, Phase measurement, Observatories, Interferometers, Telescopes, Oscillators

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