Rubin Observatory Digest for 28 January 2025

29 January 2025

Project & Science News

Rubin representatives had a busy and productive week at the American Astronomical Society Winter Meeting (AAS 245) in National Harbor, MD on January 12-16. Rubin’s exhibit booth hosted many enthusiastic visitors and the Rubin Town Hall, held on January 14th, was very well attended. Slides from the Town Hall presentation are available on Zenodo.

Concurrent with the Town Hall, Rubin released a website article about the successful conclusion of tests with Rubin’s Commissioning Camera, along with an engineering test image. Along with the positive response from those in the room, the news got immediate amplification from a Space.com reporter attending the session.

A panel of Rubin experts presented to an audience of media and science writers at AAS 245. Sandrine Thomas, Leanne Guy, Yusra AlSayaad, and Beth Willman provided an overview of Rubin Observatory and upcoming Rubin science, managing Rubin data, and Rubin’s global participation and impact. A recording of the presentation is available on YouTube. Following these presentations, Stephanie Deppe from Rubin EPO introduced Rubin’s new media resources, including a comprehensive media kit available on rubinobservatory.org

Rubin published the 8th in a series of science preview press releases on January 22nd. Read “NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory will Detect Millions of Exploding Stars” on rubinobservatory.org.

On the summit, the Rubin team removed the Commissioning Camera (ComCam) from the Simonyi Survey Telescope and placed it on the Camera Shipping Cart on January 7th, following the successful conclusion in December of ComCam’s on-sky observing campaign. Preparations are now well underway for the installation of the LSST Camera, scheduled for the end of February. Photos are available in the Gallery.

In mid-January, Rubin Observatory released a draft version of a technote (https://sitcomtn-149.lsst.io/) describing the ComCam on-sky campaign. This technote is a living document that will be updated as analyses progress. Additional updates and details about Rubin commissioning activities are available on the Rubin Community Forum and the #commissioning-updates Slack channel.

Rubin in the media

Media stories about Rubin are on the rise in 2025 — here are some examples published early this year:

• New York Times, January 1: “Big Rockets, a Big Telescope, and Big Changes in Space Await in 2025.”

• MIT Technology Review, January 1: “The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is ready to transform our understanding of the cosmos.”

• BBC World Service Podcast feature, January 3: Interview with Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland (begins at 20:10).
  
  

Operations updates

Representatives from the three primary Data Facilities within Rubin Operations — US Data Facility, French Data Facility, and UK Data Facility — and other Rubin Data Management and System Performance staff will convene for a face-to-face meeting at IN2P3 in Lyon, France on February 11-13. The primary goals of the meeting are to build closer collaboration across all three facilities, further define the operational responsibilities of the facilities in the Rubin data lifecycle, coordinate the tools and procedures for multi-site data processing, and prepare for upcoming data previews and data releases.

Reminder: If you plan to work with Rubin data in the future, we encourage you to sign up for an account on the Rubin Science Platform now. This will allow you to get familiar with the interface, work out any issues, and get your data rights verified by the project so you can be sure to get data immediately when Data Preview 1 (DP1) is released. Rubin Data Rights holders can sign up for an account any time by following the instructions here.

Personnel announcements & opportunities:

Juan Leyton Alvarado joined the Rubin summit team as Facility Technician on November 26, 2024. Juan will perform tasks in the HVAC and mechanical area associated with Rubin’s various air conditioning systems.

Les Di Leva joined the Rubin team on December 13th, 2024, as Project Management Controls System (PMCS) Analyst. Based at SLAC, Les will coordinate SLAC activities in Rubin’s P6 schedule. Les will also work on reports needed to track actual expenses, as well as forecast cost and schedule.

Seven interns have joined the Rubin team in Chile, working with various groups. Welcome to Constanza Lemus (Administration), Felipe Bustos (Systems Engineering), George Vasquez (Safety), Lucas Suarez and Victor Jerez (Electrical team), and Emilia Gutierrez and Renato Alvarado (Mechanical team).

Open positions with Rubin can be found on the Rubin hiring page.

Info for project members:

Nominate someone deserving for a future staff award on the Staff Awards page on the Project website (login required).

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

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

Upcoming meetings with rubin observatory involvement

(those with an asterisk* are supported by LSST Discovery Alliance):

2025