Announcement: Vera C. Rubin Observatory

3 Diciembre 2020: Vera C. Rubin Observatory is pleased to announce the release of its official logo following the organization’s renaming in December 2019. Formerly known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, Rubin Observatory was renamed, by an Act of Congress, to honor American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, a pioneer in the study of dark matter and an advocate for women in science. The logo is a visual representation of Rubin Observatory’s central purpose: to collect light from celestial objects and transform it into data for scientific discovery. It is aligned with Rubin Observatory’s mission for operations: to create a vast astronomical dataset and web-based analysis environment for unprecedented discovery of the deep and dynamic Universe. The logo is made up of elements that reflect Rubin Observatory’s priorities and core values. The variety of celestial objects, each one a unique shape or size, symbolizes Rubin Observatory’s commitment to diversity. The curved lines invoke …

22 Noviembre 2020: An international team of astronomers has identified the nature of Earth’s second known minimoon, 2020 CD3, following its discovery by the Catalina Sky Survey and follow-up imaging with the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, earlier this year. Upon its discovery the object was compelling but mysterious, with astronomers unsure if it was a rare natural rocky object or a lost piece of space junk. Now, observations from a collection of telescopes including Gemini North on Hawai‘i’s Maunakea have shown 2020 CD3 to be natural in origin. The minimoon is a rocky remnant of a larger body and measures about 1–1.5 metres (3–5 feet) across — roughly the size of a large desk. The team also found that 2020 CD3 was only a temporary visitor to Earth — after spending 2.7 years in orbit it was ejected to roam the Solar System in April this year. As well …

17 Noviembre 2020: Project & Science News Construction activity on Cerro Pachón continues to expand, with approximately 40 people working on the summit each day last week. That will increase this week, with the restart of the team installing critical telescope utilities. The contracted team for the dome is now about 20 people who are focused on getting the dome enclosed before the TMA team arrives in January. The dome cladding is going up fast! Photos are available in the Gallery. The Rubin Commissioning Camera (ComCam), which has been at the base facility in La Serena since May because of COVID-19 restrictions on the summit, is scheduled to move to Cerro Pachón this week, where it will be installed on the third level of the summit facility. The team in Chile has been preparing for this move for several weeks and they hope to get ComCam up and running on the summit very …

3 Noviembre 2020: Project & Science News The LSSTC Enabling Science 2020 Broker Workshop took place virtually on October 27-28. This workshop brought together representatives of all alert broker development teams, Rubin Observatory staff members, Science Collaborations members, and astronomers who are (or will be) using alert brokers for science. Participants made presentations about broker services and products, and the potential science cases they enable. Breakout discussions covered broker-related tools, algorithms, and catalogs, and strategies for collaboration to solve common issues. All of the slides and video recordings of the presentations are available on the workshop’s website, and some associated discussions appear in the Alerts & Brokers category on Community.lsst.org. A follow-up workshop is being planned for early 2021. The Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC) recently announced a virtual workshop which will take place on December 8-9, 2020. The SCOC is working to formulate a recommendation for the initial survey strategy by December …

21 Octubre 2020: Project & Science News Last week, at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the LSST Camera team conducted a successful test verifying the clearance between the filters and the shutter as the filter moves from its storage position to its online position. The level of clearance is extremely small to meet the optical design distance between the filter and the L3 lens. The completion of this test is significant for the Rubin Project because it retires some key interface risks for the Camera. Additional tests that will further verify the interoperability of the various Camera components are ongoing. Photos and video of the tests are available in the Gallery. An informative article on how Rubin Observatory and the LSST Camera will advance the study of dark matter, titled “A Powerful New Tool to Study the Cosmos,” was published in Symmetry Magazine on October 13th. Read the article at this link. Limited construction …

20 Octubre 2020: On Monday 19 October 2020 the ninth edition of Viaje al Universo, one of the main Education and Outreach programs hosted by NOIRLab in Chile, began. Its goal is to share the wonders of the Universe, the excitement of astronomy, and the latest technological advances at NOIRLab’s facilities with students and families in Chile and other Spanish-speaking audiences. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Viaje al Universo has been converted to a virtual program. The program includes talks on astronomical topics, the operation of telescopes, solar observations, and observations of the Moon and planets. We will also have a career panel with observatory professionals who will talk about the next generation of big telescopes. On the opening day, the winner of the National Prize for Exact Sciences and Director of AURA in Chile, Dr. Mario Hamuy, gave a talk titled El Sol Negro (The Black Sun in English) in …

7 Octubre 2020: We are continuously monitoring and actively responding to the COVID-19 situation, including taking measures to ensure the safety of our staff, their families and our communities. Our top operational priority at all sites has been the restart and continuity of science operations. A recent update on progress towards restarting science operations can be found on our COVID-19 web page. We have assessed the possibility of reopening our sites in Arizona, Hawai‘i and Chile for public visits, but after careful consideration we have concluded the sites will need to remain closed to public visits until at least 1 February 2021. This includes public visits to the Kitt Peak Visitor Center — and the public access to the Kitt Peak site via the mountain road — as well as public visits to our facilities in Hawai‘i (Gemini North) and Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile (CTIO and Gemini South). With COVID-19 …

6 Octubre 2020: Project & Science News A productive meeting of the AURA Management Council for Rubin Observatory (AMCR), AURA’s oversight and advocacy committee for Rubin, took place virtually on September 23-24. The report from the committee was submitted to the Rubin management team shortly after the meeting, allowing the leadership team to efficiently begin addressing the committee’s recommendations. Limited construction activities resumed on Cerro Pachón on September 28th, coinciding with the easing of the quarantine restrictions for the La Serena area, and following a thorough review to ensure that summit work could resume safely. Work will ramp up gradually over the next few months to ensure the team has time to re-adapt to working on the summit, and to adjust to the new COVID-19 protocols and procedures that are now in place. During the first week of the restart, a team of approximately 15 to 20 individuals worked on the summit for …

23 Septiembre 2020: Project & Science News The first images taken by the LSST Camera at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory received lots of attention from the media and the public after a press release announcing the milestone was issued by SLAC on September 8th. A web viewer for the images that was included with the press release received almost eight million hits in a 24-hour period, and the Romanesco image was by far the most popular! On September 11th, Rubin Observatory participated in a thorough audit and review with AURA and NOIRLab to determine whether planned “Phase 1” work activities can safely be restarted on Cerro Pachón. These include limited construction activities for Rubin Observatory and limited science operations for the existing observatories. The plans have been carefully developed by members of the technical, management, and safety teams over several months to establish the highest level of safety for those involved in the …

8 Septiembre 2020: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera team at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) has released the first 3200-megapixel digital photo taken using the array of imaging sensors that will be integrated into the LSST Camera. This is the largest image ever captured in a single shot, and it is a successful test of the LSST Camera’s focal plane, which was completed at SLAC in January 2020. Once operating at Rubin Observatory in Chile, the camera will produce panoramic images of the complete Southern sky — one panorama every few nights for 10 years. Its data will feed into the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) — a catalog of more galaxies than there are living people on Earth and of the motions of countless astrophysical objects. Using the LSST Camera, the observatory will create the largest astronomical movie of all …

8 Septiembre 2020: Project & Science News The LSST Camera team at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has released the first 3200-megapixel digital images taken using the Camera’s full array of imaging sensors. These are the largest images ever captured in single shots, and they are a successful test of the Rubin LSST Camera’s focal plane, which was completed at SLAC in January 2020. An overview is provided in this news item, which includes a link to the images and more details about this exciting achievement. A National Science Foundation (NSF)/Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Status Review took place virtually August 31st - September 4th. Members of the review panel congratulated the Project for good progress made before the COVID-19 construction shutdown, and commented that management has done an admirable job of identifying COVID-19 impacts to the Project and planning accordingly. The review committee noted that prior recommendations have been adequately addressed, and presented …

2 Septiembre 2020: After receiving its new short name, NSF NOIRLab, earlier in 2020, a targeted effort was started to move NOIRlab’s public Internet presence from the interim website at nationalastro.org to a new domain at noirlab.edu. This public site has now been launched and is the main web portal for the public and media. The new website offers a complete archive of all NOIRLab information for the public and media — more than 5000 images with rich contextual metadata, hundreds of videos, news, print products, fulldome sequences for planetariums to download and show in their domes, and more. The assets are freely available for download and use under a Creative Commons Attribution license. The site also offers a historical perspective through the archives of newsletters from NOAO and Gemini. The website is bilingual in English and Spanish. Each of NOIRLab’s five Programs, the international Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory, Cerro Tololo …

21 Agosto 2020: On Tuesday 25 August, astronomers will release the final report from the Satellite Constellations 1 workshop during a virtual press conference hosted by the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab and the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The briefing, to be conducted via Zoom, will begin at 2:00 pm US Eastern Daylight Time (18:00 UTC) and last 1 hour. Registration instructions appear below. When SpaceX began launching clusters of 60 Starlink satellites in May 2019, astronomers reacted with alarm. Not only are the Starlink satellites brighter than anyone expected, but there could be tens of thousands more like them as companies in the rapidly growing commercial space industry strive to provide satellite-based communication services to underserved and remote areas. Constellations of bright satellites in low Earth orbit will fundamentally change ground-based optical and infrared astronomy and could impact the appearance of the night sky for stargazers worldwide. SATCON1 gathered more than 250 astronomers, …

18 Agosto 2020: Project & Science News Rubin Observatory's very first virtual Project and Community Workshop (PCW) took place August 10-14, 2020, and it was a resounding success. The all-online format allowed more people to participate in this year’s workshop than ever before; a total of 706 people registered for meeting, which featured plenaries, breakout sessions, and even a social activity with virtual board games. Rubin colleagues in Chile also presented daily in Spanish for all interested participants; topics included specific parts of the project where hands-on work is performed by teams in Chile. Read more about the week’s activities in this news post. A mandatory quarantine was declared in the La Serena/Coquimbo region starting July 29th. An end date was not announced, but the order will be reviewed weekly. The quarantine affects Rubin activities on the summit; although Rubin staff still has permission to perform equipment and facility inspections, we are limited …

28 Julio 2020: Project & Science News The Rubin 2020 Project and Community Workshop (PCW) is right around the corner, (August 10-14), and there are currently 350 people registered—a new record! If you haven’t registered yet please do so as soon as possible on the meeting website. Rubin Observatory Project staff participated in a Joint Directors Review during the week of July 20-24, in preparation for the Joint Status Review scheduled for August 31-September 3rd. The review committee complimented the progress made by the Project up to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and commented favorably on the Project’s modifications and plans to address issues related to the COVID delay. A group photo from the review is available in the Gallery. The Rubin Observatory/LSST Science Collaborations will host a two-day hackathon on Aug 6-7, immediately before the Rubin 2020 PCW (Aug 10-14). The goal of the hackathon will be to kickstart work on …

14 Julio 2020: Project & Science News The schedule for this year’s Rubin Observatory Project and Community Workshop (Rubin 2020), to be held virtually August 10-14, is now available at this link. This year we’ll have “Rubin flash talks” in place of posters. If you’re interested in giving one of these then please make sure you register by July 24th. Vera Rubin’s birthday is July 23rd, and the Rubin Observatory Communications team is planning a social media celebration in her honor! Keep an eye on Rubin social media accounts, especially twitter (#BirthdayVeraRubin), for fun facts, trivia questions, and even some music. Links to Rubin social media accounts can be found on the Rubin Observatory website (in the bottom right corner). The Satellite Constellations 1 (SATCON1) workshop, facilitated by NOIRLab and AAS with support from NSF, took place virtually June 29-July 2. Four members of the Rubin Observatory Project gave presentations at the workshop: …

30 Junio 2020: Project & Science News Registration is now open for this year’s Project and Community Workshop (Rubin 2020), to be held virtually on August 10-14. More than 200 people have already registered for the event, and the agenda is close to being finalized. Visit this link for the most up-to-date information about the workshop. On Wednesday, June 10th, a day designated to Strike for Black Lives, many Rubin Observatory Project & Operations members paused their normal work activities and participated in deep discussions about Black representation and equality in our community. These discussions have continued with the goal of creating and implementing a meaningful action plan. A Town Hall (date TBA) is currently being planned; this event will provide a safe space for all to connect with one another to discuss ways that Rubin Observatory can be better at including and advocating for Black people. More information about the Town Hall …

23 Junio 2020: The inaugural edition of The NOIRLab Mirror is now available. Our new, twice-yearly newsletter with information focusing on NOIRLab’s user communities showcases the science, technology, and program developments across the five NOIRLab Programs: Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Gemini Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), and Vera C. Rubin Observatory Operations. The inaugural issue also features the perspectives of five distinguished scientists on the roles of a national observatory. “The choice of ‘The Mirror’ for the name of this newsletter series is more than a reflection of the central role of optics in our field,” writes NOIRLab Director Pat McCarthy in the first issue. “A mirror allows us to see ourselves as others do. As we launch NOIRLab and this newsletter series, it is important that we be aware of how you see us in the present, how you understand the aspirations of our …

11 Junio 2020: Following is an update on the impact of the COVID-19 virus on NSF NOIRLab. Since the night of Tuesday, 19 May 2020, the Gemini North telescope has been conducting observations from Maunakea. Operations continue at the Gemini North Base facility with minimal daytime and nighttime staffing. NOIRLab is developing site-specific plans to restart mountain- and base-operations across all other NOIRLab locations. Our sites in Chile and Arizona remain closed. In these unprecedented circumstances, our first priority remains the health and safety of our staff, visitors and other users of the mountains. The timing of the restarts will differ for each location and will reflect national and regional regulations, including those of the Tohono O’odham Nation at Kitt Peak, and our procedures will comply with local safety guidelines. Even as many US states and countries worldwide begin to reopen, conditions in Arizona and Chile do not meet any of the metrics …

9 Junio 2020: Project & Science News The Rubin Observatory Project leadership team released a statement on June 3rd in response to the ongoing protests against racial injustice. Rubin Observatory condemns discrimination and racism, and is committed to supporting diversity. Read the full statement on our website. On May 14th, the IT group in La Serena, Chile, enabled the utilization of internal routed traffic in Rubin Observatory's Long Haul Network. This means that a group of clusters, along with Commissioning Camera forwarders deployed at the base, will use this dedicated link to transfer data when the destination is the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). This work marks an important milestone towards the completion of the Network baseline of Rubin Observatory. Photos are available in the Gallery. A regular inspection of the Cerro Pachón construction site took place on May 26th. This visit included more work on the Dome and a detailed inspection …