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Introduction
Another key construction milestone was passed earlier this month, when the M1M3 mirror was moved from the storage shed where it has resided for almost five years to the main Observatory building (as shown to the right and in the accompanying video). The mirror can now be removed from its storage box and readied for coating in the on-site coating plant.
Registration has opened for the 2024 Rubin Community Workshop, which will take place in a hybrid fashion during the week of 22-26 July, with the in-person portion taking place at SLAC, in Menlo Park, California. There is a limit of 250 in-person attendees, and registration for in-person attendees will close on June 1st (or sooner, if that limit is reached). Remote attendance will be free, but still requires registration. The deadline for submitting a talk or poster abstract is 4 April, with submissions via a webform.
LSST:UK Travel support for Rubin Community Workshop 2024 and LSST@Europe
This summer, two significant Rubin/ LSST conferences are taking place that may attract significant LSST:UK interest:
the Rubin Community Workshop (SLAC, California/ Virtual, 22-26 July) - https://rubinobservatory.org/events/rubin-pcw-2024
LSST@Europe (La Palma, Canary Islands/ Virtual, 16-20 September) - https://meetings.iac.es/LSSTEurope6/
To help manage potential demand for LSST:UK Pool Travel funding, we are running time-limited calls for both of these events.
To apply for Pool Travel Funding support for the Rubin Community Workshop, please submit an application by 4pm (UK time) on Tuesday 16th April.
To apply for Pool Travel Funding support for the LSST@Europe6 conference, please submit an application by 4pm (UK time) on Tuesday 21 May.
Details of how to apply for LSST:UK Pool Travel funding are available on Confluence (https://lsst-uk.atlassian.net/l/cp/EJz57tj9 ). We will aim to confirm the outcome of applications to each call within one week of the particular call closing. It will be possible to apply for funding for these conferences after the deadline, though applications will only be considered if there is budget available. If you have any questions or comments, please contact George Beckett (email: george.beckett@ed.ac.uk).
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Save The Date: Wednesday 24 April: An online Intro to the Rubin Science Platform Session!
Over the past few months, James Mullaneyhas been running a number of in-person Introduction to the Rubin Science Platform sessions at various locations around the UK. Over More than 80 people have attended these sessions, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. As a number of people have been unable to attend an in-person session, James will be running an online session on the afternoon of Wednesday 24 April 2024.
Please complete this short Google Form* to register your interest in attending the online event, and to receive updates on precise times and connection details once they become available.
A recording of the session will be made available for those who are unable to attend the online event.
Note that this is the same form that was used to register interest in the in-person sessions, so there is no need to re-register if you have already done so (however it won't matter if you register more than once).
2024 LSST Data Rights Call
On 2 April 2024, a new call for applications for LSST Data Rights will be issued via the lusc-announce email list. The call will close at 4pm on 30 April 2024. Staff and students from any organisation eligible to hold an STFC grant may apply. Since the UK’s Data Rights Agreement is awaiting signature by STFC and the US Department of Energy, this call will be for LSST Data Rights up to 30 September 2025.
Existing LSST Data Rights holders whose term ends before 30 September 2025 will be emailed by Terry Sloan and asked if they want their current term extended to that date. Only new applicants will therefore have to apply directly through the (lightweight) application form.
More detailed information about the call will be provided in the email tolusc-announce.
Latest LUSC Team Meeting
On 1 March, the LSST:UK Science Centre (LUSC) Team convened online for its bi-annual team meeting.
The presentations highlighted recent updates (as well as challenges) in several work packages. They included an update on the LSST-VISTA Fusion Dataset by Elham Saremiwhile EPO Chris Lintottintroduced new team member Oluwatoyosi Oyegoke who is working on the integration of Zooniverse Citizen Science platform with the Rubin platform.
Tom J Wilsonpresented his work to build on conventional cross-matching techniques to create one single, multi-catalogue ‘Super Match’ to measure spectral energy distribution (SED) (see right).
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Sugata KavirajLSST:UK Communications update
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Social media: follow LSST:UK on X |
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Want to sharpen your comms skills? |
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LSST:UK is now on social media! In line with Rubin and LSST France, we have decided to kick off our social media activity by launching on X. We will be rolling out Bluesky Social and Mastodon accounts soon, as well as Instagram and LinkedIn profiles. It seems to be much harder to get any traction on X than it was in the past so every follow will help us get the word out about the project and your work. If you are on the X platform, please give @LSSTUK a follow. |
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Thanks to those team members who have signed up to receive more information about gaining skills to help communicate LSST:UK to non-specialist audiences. We have a growing list of names and Communications Officer Eleanor O'Kane will be in touch to find out more about your interests and existing communications experience. If you haven't responded but would like to know more about future training, add your name here. |
Watch: Chile at the forefront of studying the Universe
A new video highlighting the growth of astronomy in Chile features sweeping shots of Rubin’s Cerro Pachón site, filmed in January 2024.
Viewers get a bird’s eye view of Cerro Pachón before being taken inside Rubin. The video also provides a whistle-stop tour of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.
The film was produced by Imagen de Chile, which promotes the country of Chile internationally.
Recent LSST:UK Science Centre outputs
The LSST:UK Science Centre has recently produced the following technical reports.
Title | Author(s) | Description |
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C.Lintott | This document briefly describes deliverable D3.12.1 ‘Citizen Science system trial’ from the LSST:UK Phase B WP 3.12 ‘Support of EPO software'. The aim of the deliverable was to test integration and data flow from the Rubin Science Platform to a Zooniverse project. It thus required coordination on both project and Zooniverse sides. | |
C.Lintott | This document briefly describes deliverable D3.12.2 ‘Alert system trial project with broker data’ from the LSST:UK Phase B WP 3.12 'Support of EPO software'. The aim of the deliverable was also to test integration and data flow from a broker to a Zooniverse project. |
News in brief
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Vera Rubin story nominated for prestigious design awardThe Stellar True Story of Vera Rubin was among the finalists in the Best Illustrated Story category in the 2024 Society of American Society of Magazine Editors awards. Created by illustrator Breena Bard for Kazoo, a US children’s magazine, the tale traces Rubin’s interest in studying the motion of space from her childhood, including the moment she received her first telescope. Read the illustrated story here: https://kazoomagazine.com/blogs/news/kazoo-news-2024-national-magazine-awards |
Forthcoming meetings of interest
Dates, locations and links… The current list of forthcoming meetings is always available on the Relevant Meetings page. You may also wish to check information held on the LSST organisation website LSST-organised events and the LSST Corporation website.
Dates | Meeting Title / Event | Meeting Website/ Contact | Meeting location / venue |
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15/Apr/24—19/Apr/24 | KAVLI-IAU (IAUS 387) Symposium, (Toward) Discovery of Life Beyond Earth and its Impact | UK | Durham University | |
17/Apr/24—19/Apr/24 | Time Domain Needles in Rubin's Haystack | USA | Harvard Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA | |
20/May/24—23/May/24 | Rare Gems in Big Data. The discovery potential of large astrophysical surveys: science opportunities, tools, and techniques | https://mailchi.mp/d8d4daa3ed0a/first-announcement-rare-gems-in-big-data?e=5176cbbd93 | USA | Tucson, AZ |
08/Jul/24-12/Jul/24 | DESC Collaboration Meeting | Switzerland | ETZ Zurich | |
22/Jul/24-25/Jul/24 | Catching supermassive black holes with Rubin-LSST: Towards novel insights and discoveries into AGN science | https://indico.ict.inaf.it/event/2784/ Registration is now open. Abstract submission deadline is 12 April. | Italy | Turin |
22/Jul/24-26/Jul/24 | Rubin Community Workshop | More details about the meeting will be available once the meeting website is set up and registration opens. | USA | SLAC, California (hybrid) |
16/Sep/24—20/Sep/24 | LSST@Europe6 | Spain | Island of La Palma |
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Members of the Consortium (not in receipt of travel funding through one of the Science Centre grants) may apply for travel support for meetings of this kind via the LSST:UK Pool Travel Fund. Details are available at Forthcoming LSST-related Meetings |
Announcements
The Challenging the Standard Cosmological Model workshop takes place at the Royal Society in London on 15 and 16 April 2024. In-person registration was showing as sold out at time of newsletter publication however you can still sign up for virtual participation (advance registration is essential).
(Requested by Subir Sarkar)
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If you have significant announcements that are directly relevant to LSST:UK and would like to share them in a future newsletter, contact Eleanor O'Kane (email eokane@roe.ac.uk) |