Rubin Digest 16 August 2022

16 August 2022

Project & Science News

The Rubin 2022 Project and Community Workshop, held August 8-12 at the Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain resort in Tucson, AZ, was a successful and productive meeting. The first in-person PCW since 2019 also offered an option for people to participate virtually in plenaries and select breakout sessions. More details about the event are available in this recent news item. 

On August 9th, Rubin Observatory recognized the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. We are privileged to be able to conduct research on Cerro Pachón in Chile, and we acknowledge the Indigenous communities in Chile as the natural protectors of that land. We further acknowledge that our headquarters in Tucson is on the ancestral and unceded lands of the O’odham and Yaqui people.

The LSST Camera Pumped Coolant Final Design Review took place at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory on August 2-5. The main recommendation of the review committee was for the camera team to proceed with the updated solution. This review was a necessary and helpful step to getting this system in place to support the Camera, and the camera team will be working on addressing the committee’s recommendations in the coming months.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently approved the data security supplemental funding request submitted by Rubin Construction, paving the way for the Data Management team to begin putting into place the data systems and security measures detailed in the request. 

Regular construction activities on the summit have resumed after a heavy snowstorm (reported in the July 26th issue of the Digest). Last week, the M2 surrogate (the metal structure standing in for the glass secondary mirror during testing) was lifted off of its handling cart and reinstalled on the top end of the telescope mount. The installation went well and was completed in just a few hours, serving as a necessary verification that the removal and reinstallation of the M2, which will be required for coating the mirror during operations, can be carried out without problems using the dome crane and special lifting fixtures, and within the dimensional constraints of the TMA and dome. Photos are available in the Gallery.

Rubin Observatory swag items, including t-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, and more, are available for purchase in our not-for-profit online store. 

LSST Corporation News

The LSSTC fully supported a group of 34 graduate and undergraduate students to attend the Rubin 2022 PCW. The students each gave a short presentation about their work during a plenary session (undergrad students on Monday, graduate students on Wednesday), and invited Rubin attendees to view their posters and discuss their research results. The LSSTC also arranged a student tour of the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab, and the instrumentation shop at Rubin headquarters in Tucson. 

Operations Updates:

Rubin Operations was the focus of the Tuesday morning plenary at the Rubin 2022 PCW. Bob Blum, Director of Rubin Operations, gave a presentation reviewing progress and status of the Operations Plan for Rubin Observatory and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time including schedule updates, data preview timing and recent success with Data Preview 0.2. Slides from the presentation are available on the PCW meeting page (Internal Access Only).

Announcements & Opportunities

Brianna Smart and Erin Howard joined the Data Management subsystem as Research Scientists on August 1st. Brianna and Erin will be working on development of the Alert Production pipelines at the University of Washington.

Christina Williams joined the pre-Operations System Performance group as a Community Scientist on August 1st. Christina will be a member of the Community Engagement Team, supporting scientists who engage with Rubin Observatory.

Kenneth Brown joined the Telescope and Site subsystem on August 15th as a Technical Associate. Kenneth will be working as an electronics technician supporting construction and operations for the Rubin Observatory and NOIRLab.

Open positions with Rubin Observatory are available, visit the Rubin hiring page for details.

Info for Project Members:

If you’d like to schedule a one-on-one meeting with Victor or Zeljko, please fill out this form to indicate your preferred (and backup) date and time. 

There is also an anonymous “suggestion box” for anyone to offer feedback at this link. 

Upcoming Meetings with Rubin Observatory Involvement

(those with an asterisk* are LSSTC funded): 

 

2022
September 13-16	NSF Major and Mid-scale Research Infrastructure Workshop, Boulder, CO
September 14-15	AURA Management Council for Rubin Observatory (AMCR) Meeting, Palo Alto, CA
September 19-23	Joint Status Review, Tucson, AZ
September 26-30	RR Lyrae and Cepheid stars meeting: “Large-scale Surveys as Bridges between Spectroscopy and Photometry,” Island of La Palma, Spain
October 24-28	LSST@Europe4*, Rome, Italy (hybrid)

 

Upcoming Deadlines:

2022
September 15	Register for LSST@Europe4 (virtual participation)