Rubin Digest 27 July 2021

27 July 2021

Project & Science News

The detailed agenda for the Rubin 2021 Project and Community Workshop (PCW) is now available on the meeting website (login required). It’s only visible to those who registered for the meeting, so if you can’t see it, make sure to register! The PCW will be held virtually, August 9-13.

Two significant new developments have recently taken place at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. On July 22nd, the LSST Camera team received the z and y band filters from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), marking the halfway point of the full set of six filters arriving at SLAC (the remaining three filters are expected to arrive in a few weeks). The team at SLAC also completed the integration of the camera utility trunk with the camera cryostat, which will allow them to restart the electro-optical testing of the full focal plane using the final refrigeration system and all the final support electronics. 

New drone photos of the Rubin summit facility (provided by Dome Surveyor, Oscar Rivera) are available in the Gallery; they show advancement to near 100% on dome cladding completion as well as closure of the louvers, rear door, and shutters. Recent photos of progress inside the facility are also available in the Gallery.

The Data Management team has released Version 22.0.0 of the LSST Science Pipelines. More details, including links to installation instructions, release notes, and scientific characterization, are available on community.lsst.org. 

The Communications team ran a successful social media campaign during the week leading up to Vera Rubin’s birthday on July 23rd. Search for #BirthdayVeraRubin (on twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn) to read the inspiring stories shared by people whose lives she touched.

Two members of important standing committees in the Rubin Observatory have recently completed their terms. Dr. Amy Mainzer of the University of Arizona has been a member of the Science Advisory Committee (SAC) since 2014, and has helped the committee and the project immeasurably with her insights into Solar System science and searches for asteroids both near and far. Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz of Adler Planetarium has served as a member of the Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC) which is preparing recommendations for the LSST survey strategy. She has contributed significantly with her deep knowledge of the variable universe and the challenges of following up transient phenomena. The project thanks both Amy and Lucianne for their major contributions, and looks forward to their continued involvement in other aspects of the survey.

Rubin Observatory has selected seven LSST community alert brokers recommend by the Rubin Science Advisory Committee (SAC) to receive the full Rubin alert stream: ALeRCE, AMPEL, ANTARES, BABAMUL, Fink, Lasair, and Pitt-Google. Two additional brokers have been endorsed by the project for operation downstream of the full-stream brokers: The Solar System Notification Alert Processing System (SNAPS), and Point of Interest: Variables. Background on the alert brokers and the selection process is available at this link.

The LSST Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) Science Collaboration has announced their 2021 Data Challenge. The purpose of this challenge is to help get more people involved in the work needed to do AGN science with the upcoming LSST data, and LSST Corporation-funded prizes are available. The deadline for submissions will be September 17th, 2021, and details are available on community.lsst.org

The AGN Science Collaboration held a successful meeting, "Supermassive Black Holes with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time: 2021,” on July 12-14. Recordings (20 talks; more than 10 hours) are publicly available on YouTube. 

Operations Updates

On Friday July 16, about 80 Data Preview 0 (DP0) participants came together for hands-on demonstrations about how to access and analyze data using an early release of Rubin Science Platform (RSP); the demonstrations were followed by breakout discussions. Many Rubin staff members were on hand to answer questions and provide guidance, recordings are available at this link. The Ops team thanks everyone who participated.

Personnel Announcements

Joe Kenny, the Environment, Safety & Health (EH&S) Coordinator for the LSST Camera team at SLAC, retired on July 23rd. We thank Joe for his six years of service with the project and wish him a very happy retirement. Robin Christenson from SLAC will serve as the LSST Camera ES&H coordinator until a permanent ES&H coordinator is hired at SLAC. 

Erik Dennihy joined the Systems Engineering team on July 18th as Science Verification Support Scientist, supporting the science verification elements of the SIT-Com commissioning plan. Erik will work closely with Data Management verification, and help bridge the boundary between science and technical verification.

Upcoming Meetings with Rubin Observatory Involvement

(those with an asterisk* are LSSTC funded):

2021

August 9-13: Rubin Project and Community Workshop (PCW) 2021, Virtual

September 23, 24 & 27: AURA Management Council for Rubin Observatory (AMCR) meeting, Virtual

October 4-7: Joint Status Review, Virtual