Announcement: Vera C. Rubin Observatory

12 February 2019: Project & Science News The LSST Project is distributed and complex, and understanding the relationships between its participating organizations and affiliates can be challenging. A new diagram, “The LSST Ecosystem,” represents these relationships visually. The diagram can be accessed in the LSST Gallery; we encourage you to use it in presentations and documents when appropriate. The Filter Exchange team in France is making significant progress on the construction of the manual loader and the auto-changer, two important components of the filter exchange system installed on the LSST Camera. This system will accommodate LSST’s six filters, each of which is 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter and weighs about 88 pounds (40 kg). IN2P3 is on track to complete the fabrication of the filter exchange system by the end of the second quarter of 2019. Recent photos of the filter exchange system are available in the LSST Gallery. Coating of the …

29 January 2019: Project & Science News After a 35-day partial shutdown, normal U.S. government operations have resumed until at least mid-February. LSST senior management staff will continue to work with AURA and the NSF to keep the Project moving forward and to minimize the effects of future disruptions. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred in Chile on January 19, affecting the La Serena region. Electricity and communications were interrupted but quickly restored, and inspections by LSST staff revealed no significant damage. Thanks to LSST and Mountain Operations staff in Chile for ensuring the safety of people and equipment during and after the event. Following the 233rd AAS meeting in Seattle, the Project Science Team had a face-to-face meeting on January 10-11. After presentations by Amanda Bauer about updated EPO construction plans and by Lynne Jones about 46 submitted cadence white papers, the PST discussed software coordination across the Project, Project funding contingency levels, …

15 January 2019: Project & Science News Reminder: The LSST Project Office in Tucson will be closed on Monday, January 21st, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day. LSST had a significant presence at the 233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). This year’s winter meeting took place in Seattle, WA, on January 6-10, with more than 3000 registrants. During the meeting, LSST team members staffed an exhibit booth and a job fair booth, facilitated two sessions of a tutorial on the LSST Science Pipelines, and hosted a town hall at which Charles Simonyi was a distinguished guest. More information is available in this recent news post, and Town Hall slides can be found here. The LSST Secondary Mirror (M2), which arrived at Cerro Pachón in December, has been inspected, declared free of damage from shipping, and moved into the LSST summit facility. It is currently being stored on the …

18 December 2018: Project & Science News Happy holidays and best wishes for the New Year from LSST! The next LSST News Digest will be distributed on January 15th, 2019. LSST will have representation at the 233rd AAS Meeting in Seattle, WA, January 7-10. If you’ll be attending the meeting and would like to help staff the LSST exhibitor booth (#113), or our Job Fair table (January 8, Noon-6:30 pm), please email us at communications-team@lists.lsst.org. We also encourage you to attend the LSST Town Hall on January 9th at 7:30 pm in room 6C. The latest LSST “Day in the Life” video is now available in the LSST Gallery, the fourth in a series that highlights the diversity of efforts undertaken by our distributed team. Thanks to everyone who contributed photos—keep up the good work. An update from the PLAsTiCC Astronomical Classification Challenge: The final submission deadline for the main Kaggle prize has …

4 December 2018: Project & Science News An attractive and functional LSST 2019 wall calendar is now available; pick one up at the LSST booth at the AAS Meeting in Seattle, January 7-10, or print your own copy by downloading the image from the LSST Gallery. We would like to extend our appreciation for the hard work put in by the LSST community in response to the Call for White Papers on LSST Cadence Optimization. We received 46 white papers that will help us explore variations on the survey strategy over the next two years. The LSST Science Advisory Committee are now starting their review, leading to recommendations on how to go forth when simulating these survey strategy options. The December 17th deadline is approaching for the Photometric LSST Astronomical Time-Series Classification Challenge (PLAsTiCC), and over 800 participating teams have registered so far. Learn more about the challenge in this video, recorded at …

20 November 2018: Project & Science News The LSST Project Office wishes everyone a happy Thanksgiving holiday! The LSST Coating Chamber arrived on the summit of Cerro Pachón on November 11, safely completing a 15-week journey from Deggendorf, Germany, where it was constructed. The 128-ton Coating Chamber has now been integrated into the summit facility. Photos of the Coating Chamber during shipping, and upon arrival at the summit, are available in the LSST Gallery. The LSST Secondary Mirror (M2) System cargo was loaded aboard the BBC Challenger on November 12th at the port of Albany, NY. The ship departed for Chile the following day, heading back down the Hudson River. The vessel will travel nearly directly to the port of Coquimbo, Chile, and is due to arrive at the beginning of December. Preparations are underway to accommodate the mirror and associated cargo boxes on Cerro Pachón. Photos of M2 being loaded are available …

6 November 2018: Project & Science News A reminder: daylight saving time ended in the U.S. on Sunday, November 4th. The LSST Project uses Pacific Time as a standard, but Arizona clocks do not change, and Chile is on a different time change schedule. As a result, standing meeting times have changed for people in some locations but not others; please check with your meeting organizer to confirm the times for upcoming meetings. The deadline for the Call for White Papers on LSST Cadence Optimization is less than a month away; white papers must be submitted by November 30, 2018. Click here for more information. The LSST Coating Chamber arrived at the Port of Coquimbo, Chile, on October 23rd, ending a seven-week ocean voyage that began in Antwerp, Belgium. For four days after its arrival, the Coating Chamber was prepared, split into two pieces (top and bottom), and loaded onto specialized transport vehicles …

23 October 2018: Project & Science News Early in the morning on October 10, the Primary/Tertiary Mirror (M1M3) Cell was moved from CAID Industries, where it was manufactured, to the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab on the University of Arizona campus. The Cell traveled on a vehicle provided by Precision Heavy Haul (PHH); personnel from PHH, CAID, the Mirror Lab, and LSST Project members made sure the Cell was transported and delivered safely. More information about the Cell move can be found in this recent news item. A week later, on October 18, the M1M3 Mirror was also moved to the Mirror Lab on a PHH truck. The Mirror had been in storage in a hangar at Million Air since its fabrication, which was completed in 2015. Now that both the Cell and the Mirror are in the Lab, the next step is the installation of the Mirror onto the M1M3 Cell using …

10 October 2018: Project & Science News A group from the National Science Foundation (NSF) paid a productive visit to the LSST summit site on Cerro Pachón in late September to review construction progress and interact with LSST Project senior management staff. A group photo from the event is available in the LSST Gallery. The Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia (LIneA) in Brazil held a meeting of the LSST Brazil Participation Group (BPG) on Sept 24-28. Representatives from LSST Data Management (DM), Communications, and Education and Public Outreach (EPO) were invited to present progress on their efforts, and to review the LIneA science and technical activities. A group photo from the event is available in the LSST Gallery, and the LSST presentations can be found at this link. The transport cart for the Primary/Tertiary Mirror (M1M3) Cell Assembly has been completed at CAID Industries in Tucson, AZ. On the summit of Cerro Pachón, this …

26 September 2018: Project & Science News The LSST Project Office is delighted to announce that Professor Zeljko Ivezic of the University of Washington has agreed to take on the role of Deputy Director of the LSST Construction Project, effective September 1, 2018. Read the announcement from Steve Kahn here. LSST Senior Management staff recently participated in a productive quarterly meeting of AURA’s Management Council for LSST (AMCL), which took place September 5-6 at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. Agenda items included an introduction of new members of the Council, and a discussion of the results of the recent NSF/DOE Joint Status Review for LSST. The Call for White Papers on LSST Cadence Optimization is still open; provide your input on LSST observing strategy by submitting before the November 30, 2018 deadline. Click here for more information. New photos of the LSST cryostat assembly, completed at SLAC in late June, are now …

5 September 2018: Project & Science News The LSST 2018 Project and Community Workshop, which took place in Tucson August 13-17, offered opportunities for face-to-face interactions between geographically distributed LSST project team members and members of the LSST science community. Photos of the event are now available in the LSST Gallery; read more about this year’s event here. LSST was represented at AURA’s booth at the recent International Astronomical Union (IAU) General Assembly Meeting, held in Vienna August 20-31. A photo of the booth is available in the LSST Gallery. LSST Director Steve Kahn, Project Manager Victor Krabbendam, and Systems Engineering Manager Brian Selvy traveled to Spain during the week of August 20-24. While there, the team visited Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) vendor Asturfeito to discuss the schedule and preparations for Factory Acceptance Testing of the TMA, which will begin in September (click here for a group photo). Prior to the Asturfeito visit, …

17 August 2018: Project & Science News The LSST 2018 Project and Community Workshop is currently underway in Tucson, AZ, with over 300 people registered. The meeting concludes on August 17. Please note that Summer Daylight Saving Time began in Chile on August 11, on that day clocks in Chile advanced by one hour. The Call for White Papers on LSST Cadence Optimization continues, submittals must be received by November 30, 2018. The NSF/DOE Joint Status Review for LSST took place from July 31-August 3 in Tucson, AZ. Plenary presentations and breakout sessions for all LSST subsystems were scheduled for the first four days. On the final day, the review committee issued its recommendations and congratulated the Project team on its excellent progress to date. The Coating Chamber departed Deggendorf, Germany on a covered river barge headed to Antwerp, Belgium, with a planned arrival date of August 13. It is scheduled to begin …

1 August 2018: Project & Science News LSST 2018, The Project and Community Workshop is just two weeks away! The meeting agenda is available at this link. A reminder that the call for white papers for LSST cadence optimization is ongoing, and the deadline is November 30, 2018. An LSST Town Hall has been approved for the 233rd AAS Meeting, January 6-10 in Seattle, WA. The Town Hall will take place on Wednesday, January 9 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. More details, including speakers and location, will be announced as they are available. The Education and Public Outreach (EPO) team hosted a teacher focus group in Tucson on July 16-18. This was the second in a series of events to collect feedback from educators about the formal education products being developed by the EPO team. Read more about the event in this recent news post, and view photos in the LSST Gallery. The washing station, …

18 July 2018: Project & Science News Registration for LSST 2018 is now closed. Approximately 320 people registered for the meeting, the highest attendance number to date. The block agenda for the meeting is available at this link. The Camera team reports a major project accomplishment: in late June, construction of the Cryostat assembly was completed at SLAC. The assembly was moved to the SLAC IR2 Cleanroom Facility, where the Cryostat pump plate was attached, and the assembly underwent early vacuum-testing. A photo of the completed Cryostat is available in the LSST Gallery. The Camera team received the last sensor to be provided by the UA Imaging Technology Laboratory (ITL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on July 12. The second sensor vendor, which is providing the balance of sensors required by the project, has fewer than 25 sensors to complete. At BNL, assembly of science-raft tower modules (RTMs) using these sensors is moving …

5 July 2018: Project & Science News The LSST science community is invited to play a key role in the definition of LSST’s Observing Strategy. The LSST Project is now soliciting white papers to help plan various aspects of the survey strategy. The deadline for white paper submission is November 30, 2018. Click here for more details. The registration deadline for LSST 2018 is July 9; if you haven’t already registered, it’s time! A detailed block agenda for the meeting is now available. An LSST team recently visited the Coating Plant vendor Von Ardenne in Germany in mid-June to confirm coating functionality and to approve packaging and shipment of the Coating Plant to Chile. As a result of this successful visit, transport arrangements are underway; a vessel to transport the Coating Plant has been booked for August 22, 2018. The Washing Station, another deliverable in the Coating Plant contract, shipped on June 24 …

20 June 2018: Project & Science News The deadline for registration for LSST 2018 is July 9. Watch for a draft agenda for the meeting, which will be available soon. The TVSSC (Transient and Variable Stars Science Collaboration) Survey Strategy Proposal Preparation Workshop took place in Bethlehem, PA on June 4-8. The purpose of the meeting was to organize the response of the TVSSC in advance of the upcoming LSST Observing Strategy call for white papers, which is scheduled for late June. The annual SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conference took place in Austin, TX from June 10-15. LSST was well-represented with more than 35 posters, presentations, and invited talks highlighting LSST construction progress. LSST@Europe3 wrapped up in Lyon on June 15. The meeting gathered approximately 150 participants for 5 days of talks, tours, and informal opportunities for networking between members of the LSST Project and the European science community. Recordings of many …

5 June 2018: Project & Science News Cast your votes now for sessions at LSST 2018; voting closes tomorrow, June 6. LSST will be hosting Booth #614 at the SPIE conference in Austin June 11-15. If you’re attending the conference, please stop by. The 4th version of the LSST overview paper, “LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products,” was submitted to arXiv on May 25. Since its first submission 10 years ago, the paper has grown from 29 to 57 pages, and the author list has increased from 93 to 313. LSST is featured in a recent article in Universe Today titled, “What are the Chances that the Next Generation LSST Could Find New Planets in our Solar System?” A time-lapse video of the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) effort at the Asturfeito factory in Spain is now available in the LSST Gallery.* A Commissioning Science Validation Bootcamp took place …

23 May 2018: Project & Science News Don’t forget to register for LSST 2018 using this link. The deadline for registration is July 9. LSST was mentioned in a recent article by Ellen Meyer (UMBC) about the future of astronomy and data, originally published in The Conversation and re-printed in the San Francisco Chronicle and at Smithsonian.com. In Spain, a reception was held at the factory of LSST vendor Asturfeito on May 14 to acknowledge the significance of the work completed on the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA). Approximately 200 people attended, including local government officials and industry dignitaries. A news article describing the event can be found here. Installation of the first summit network equipment took place on Cerro Pachón at the beginning of May. After readying the summit computer room, which included ensuring the space was appropriately clean and temperature-controlled, the IT team began installing servers in this space, which will serve …

8 May 2018: Project & Science News Registration is open for LSST 2018; register now at this link. Proposals for meeting sessions are also currently being accepted here. The deadline for submitting session topics is May 14. Several LSST subsystem staff presented status updates and recent accomplishments on May 1 at the LSST Open House for the AURA Member Representatives Meeting in Tucson, AZ. An LSST team spent 5 days in Spain last month conducting a thorough safety review of the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) at the facility of vendor Asturfeito. The group inspected the numerous safety features included in the TMA, and reviewed the procedures by which the group of vendors responsible for building the TMA (referred to as UTE) will verify that the hazard mitigations meet LSST requirements. Read more about the review in this news post. The Education and Public Outreach (EPO) subsystem held a Citizen science workshop in April …