Announcement: Vera C. Rubin Observatory

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 …