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First, after a couple of months of very healthy demand, we only received a handful of FT proposals at the December deadline: 4 for Gemini North, and 1 for Gemini South. The Gemini South proposal reached the minimum score and … Continue reading →

We ask FT participants for feedback at a couple of points in the process; first when they are notified whether they got time, and again a few months later when they are hopefully writing up their excellent results. The initial … Continue reading →

The number of FT proposals received at the end of November dropped slightly compared to September and October, from 16 to 12.  As in October, the majority of proposals were for Gemini-N, with the three Gemini-S proposals requesting 7.5 hours … Continue reading →

FT demand at the October deadline was healthy again, with 16 proposals received (see the figure below – the blue bars and left-hand axis show the number of proposals, while the squares and right-hand axis show the number of hours … Continue reading →

For the upcoming October 31 deadline and beyond, Fast Turnaround proposals can request time on Gemini South. GMOS-S and Flamingos-2 are available, along with a limited amount of time on GPI. We aren’t offering GeMS at the moment, but it … Continue reading →

So, you people really know how to surprise us… After several months of unexceptional demand for FT time, the last thing we were expecting was a near-record number of proposals in September. With Gemini staff now being able to submit … Continue reading →

Just a quick note to say that we now have a mailing list that will be used to send monthly reminders and inform users of changes to the program that may affect or interest them. To sign up, send a … Continue reading →

We’ve just received approval from the Board to start accepting Fast Turnaround proposals for Gemini South instrumentation. We’re still finalising the implementation (such as which instruments/modes can realistically be supported), but the first call for proposals including Gemini South is … Continue reading →

Now that we have some experience running the FT program, we believe we can support multi-object spectroscopy with GMOS North. We welcome MOS proposals for the August 2015 deadline and onwards. This is subject to a few caveats: We will … Continue reading →

Your correspondent has been meaning to write a post explaining a little of what goes on behind the scenes in the FT program, showing what participants see as they go through the process, and giving a couple of tips for … Continue reading →