Gemini in the Time Domain Era – Elena Sabbi (Gemini, Noirlab)

With the full-scale operations of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope now underway, astronomy has entered a golden age of time-domain discovery. As we move away from finding just a few rare transients, the International Gemini Observatory serves as the essential bridge between discovery and characterization. This talk explores how Gemini’s “Agile” operations allow for rapid optical and near-infrared photometric spectroscopic follow-up of the most exotic events in the night sky. We will discuss the current instrument suite and the new software tools available to the community for rapid science access. Finally, we will highlight how Gemini is evolving to be the “go-to” observatory for the era of multi-messenger astronomy. The talk concludes with a review of the “Once in a Rubin Gem”: a Director’s Discretionary Time initiative specifically designed for the rapid follow-up of LSST’s most mysterious unknown unknowns.

YouTube link: https://youtube.com/live/rqSwzzZ1-ps