Gemini Observatory

On 13 December 2007 the STFC submitted a proposal to our partners in Gemini which, if accepted, would remove the UK’s access to Gemini South by 2009, but would retain access to Gemini North until the end of the current Gemini agreement in 2012.

On 25 January 2008 we received notification that the Gemini Board had rejected our offer and that they considered the UK to have issued notice to withdraw. While we have not yet issued formal notice to withdraw, the scientific prioritisation process in the Programmatic Review has placed access to Gemini South and Gemini North a lower priority and in the current funding climate we will not be able to continue to fund our membership of the Gemini partnership. We will therefore be taking steps to issue formal notice to withdraw.

Under the terms of the Gemini agreement the STFC will be liable to a ‘penalty’ payment of c£7M, this being the value of two year’s subscriptions. However, this should be seen in the context of potential payments of c£24M between now and the end of the Agreement in 2012, this being the cost of our annual subscriptions and our contribution to the ‘Aspen’ instrumentation programme.

While we sincerely regret the need to withdraw from Gemini, the current circumstances leave us no choice. This is particularly relevant in the context of preserving the highest priority programmes and providing headroom to pursue the next generation of scientific opportunities, for example the Extremely Large Telescope.