Program: GS-2017B-DD-1

Today, within two seconds of 2017 August 17 12:41:04 UTC, both LIGO interferometers, Virgo, and the Fermi satellite detected gravitational waves from a neutron star merger and a short contemporaneous gamma ray burst! The joint on-sky 90% localization is only 31 square degrees and the distance estimate is only 40+/-8 Mpc. A possible neutrino detection has also been reported by IceCube, although it is outside the formal sky localization. This may very well be a historic moment in multi-messenger astronomy. Here, we request Gemini observatory to participate in the hunt for an infrared counterpart. Gemini's near-infrared rapid response sensitivity in the southern hemisphere is unique and crucial for this particular GW event. We cannot over-emphasize the importance of this event with many "firsts:" it is the first binary neutron star event for which gravitational waves have been reported, it is the first event with a localization in just two digits in square degrees, it is the first event for which contemporaneous photons and gravitational waves (and possibly neutrinos) have been convincingly detected. Here we propose that it also be the first with infrared photons to solve the long-standing mystery of where the heavy elements are synthesized.