Rubin Observatory Digest for 13 May 2025

14 May 2025

Project and Science News

The date for Rubin Observatory’s First Look event — when Rubin’s first images will be publicly revealed — is still being finalized and will be shared soon. In the meantime, we invite you to sign up to host a Rubin First Look Watch Party, centered around a livestream of the image unveiling. More details can be found on Rubin’s Watch Party web page.

Don’t forget to register ASAP for this year’s Rubin Community Workshop, to be held in Tucson, AZ, on July 28 - August 1. Details and a link to register can be found on the Rubin Community Workshop meeting website.

The Rubin Media Kit is now available in Spanish, thanks to translation assistance from the Communications and Outreach Office of the Center of Excellence in Astrophysics and Related Technologies (CATA). The Spanish-language media kit can be found on rubinobservatory.org, along with an updated version of the English-language media kit.

Recent progress updates related to on-sky commissioning are available on community.lsst.org in the News category with the commissioning-updates tag, and on the LSST-DA Slack workspace in the #commissioning-updates channel.

The Stanford Data Science Center for Decoding the Universe (C4U) is holding its first annual conference on June 5-6, titled “Data-driven Discovery in the Rubin Era.” The conference is designed to be interdisciplinary and discussion-focused, including a half-day “unconference” session. Registration is free, visit the meeting website for details and a registration link. 

Rubin managers and leadership participated in a recent meeting of the AURA Management Council for Rubin Observatory (AMCR), held in Tucson and virtually. Presentations given by Rubin staff highlighted recent progress and plans for the upcoming First Look event and the transition from construction to operations. The Council gave complimentary feedback and offered recommendations to ensure a smooth and effective transition. 

Rubin in the Media

Rubin was featured on NPR’s Shortwave podcast on April 25th in an episode titled “If another planet is out there, this telescope could help find it.”

Sky & Telescope published an article about Rubin, titled “Vera Rubin Observatory: Astronomy’s New Workhorse,” on April 28th. 

Operations Updates

Rubin Operations Director Bob Blum has spent the past three weeks in Chile with observatory staff and the commissioning team, observing recent technical progress at the summit and discussing plans for the transition to operations and the start of the first survey year. He also joined members of the US Data Facility and Base & Summit Data Facilities operations teams in La Serena for the Rubin NET meeting, where they reviewed the status and plans for Rubin’s Long Haul Network—the system that transfers images from the summit through South America, up to Florida, and into the USDF for nightly validation and prompt processing.

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. 

LSST Discovery Alliance News

Join us July 27–28 in Tucson for the LINCC Frameworks Workshop & Hackathon at the Rubin Community Workshop to explore Rubin early science data using LINCC Frameworks software tools. Hosted by the LINCC Frameworks team, this event will offer attendees the opportunity to learn via interactive software tutorials and then pitch and explore a collaborative project, with mentorship from experts. Don’t miss this chance to explore LINCC Framework tools and build cross-disciplinary connections. Space is limited — a selection process will give preference to early applicants to help balance experience levels and computing backgrounds. Get more details and a registration link on the event page.

Personnel Announcements & Opportunities:

Assya Kiyanovski joined the LSST Camera team on April 14th. Assaya is a member of the Business Services Directorate (BSD)/ Fundamental Physics Directorate (FPD) Finance Team at SLAC. Ayssa’s main scope of work includes Rubin Observatory, LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration, FPD Research Mechanical Engineering and Technicians Shop, and Intensity Research and AI/ML.

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. 

The link to Rubin’s anonymous “suggestion box” will be changing soon, until a new link is announced please use this form (login required) to make suggestions. 

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

May 18-23	Shaping the Future of Time-Domain Astronomy with LSST, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil*
June 8-12	AAS 246 Summer Meeting, Anchorage, AK
June 25-29	European Astronomical Society (EAS) annual meeting, Cork, Ireland
July 14-18	Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) Science Collaboration meeting, Durham, UK
July 21-25	Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) meeting, Urbana-Champaign, IL & virtual
July 28-August 1	Rubin Community Workshop 2025, Tucson, AZ
September 14-19	LSST@Europe7, Poznan, Poland