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Introduction
Announcements
Swag - https://www.cafepress.com/rubinobservatory
Camera progress https://gallery.lsst.org/bp/#/folder/2334394/126202312 and https://www.lsst.org/news/digest/08sept2021
ComCam: https://gallery.lsst.org/bp/#/folder/10001182/125644366
RubinTV
This month, I have mostly been working on… RubinTV. My latest pet project, RubinTV, was developed to provide real-time metrics for ongoing observations, to aid observers during their night's work.
https://roundtable.lsst.codes/rubintv
The landing page (which could do with being made a little more pretty, not to mention functional), currently shows four "channels" (more coming soon). Each of these pages hosts a particular type of plot. Every time the telescope takes an image that is compatible with that type of plot (as defined per-channel later), these pages auto-update with that plot generated for the latest image from the telescope, such that it functions as a sort of heads-up display for observers.
The four channels are:
Monitor: this is just a rendering of the CCD image as a PNG at an appropriate stretch. More stats will be added to this soon, but essentially it's a quick image of the full focal plane after image assembly, instrument signature removal, and cosmic ray repair. This plot made for every image taken.
Image Analysis: this is basically a sort of
imexamstand in (for those who know what that is - I didn’t when I started this!). It provides some basic image stats: contour and 3d renderings of the main object's PSF, a radial plot for that same object (unbinned in radius as a feature), with other useful stats computed, e.g. the peak pixel counts for the main source and its ADU/s etc. This plot made for all non-calibration frames for which a bright source is found in the image.Spectrum Analysis: this is a super quick and dirty spectral reduction, just for observers to get count rates for the continuum, so they know how long to integrate for in subsequent images. It gives the peak amplitude in ADU along the spectrum (in both pixels and rough wavelength coordinates), and the continuum flux in ADU/s (and peak ADU). This plot is made for all non-calibration images with a disperser in the beam.
Mount: this plot shows the mount positions and torques for the duration of the exposure (sampled at roughly 100Hz), so it can be seen if there is stiction, wind shake, etc. Basically, if those are smooth you know your PSF is going to be OK, modulo focus etc. This plot is made for all images for which the telescope is tracking, and the exposure time is ≥2s.
The fun part is that you can just open each of these in a new window, and when we're on the sky, you can be a remote observer, just watching the data flow in, seeing exactly what we're up to with zero effort or hitting refresh - no VPNs or anything! Future work on the site will involve adding new channels, improving the interface for which past data is retrieved, as well as writing the backend code to produce the plots for all the images already taken and populate its database.
If anyone reading this thinks "Oh, that's cool functionality, but that website 'could be better', and I know how to make it better because I know how to make websites" please get in touch! I would love to get some help with making it less bad, I just don't have the time to learn how to make websites.
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Placeholder Title for Catherine
Placeholder Title for Chris
Forthcoming meetings of interest
Note that the current list of forthcoming meeting 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
Announcements
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Study of Solar System Small Bodies
Applications are invited for a 2-year Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC) at Queen's University Belfast. The successful applicant will work with Dr. Meg Schwamb to develop and exploit next-generation tools for analysing and interpreting future Solar System moving object detections from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Rubin Observatory science operations are planned to begin around mid-2024, with the survey expected to discover millions of asteroids and tens of thousands of distant Solar System planetesimals. The post will focus on developing software pipelines and utilities for LSST Solar System science and applying these techniques to present-day LSST-precursor datasets. This includes the development of a pipeline to discover distant Solar System bodies beyond ~100 au that are not expected to be discoverable by the main Rubin Observatory Solar System Processing pipeline.
To read the full details and to apply, visit: https://hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.open?VACANCY_ID=924394FIBS&WVID=6273090Lgx&LANG=USA
Application Deadline: October 13, 2021
ARC website:
https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/astrophysics-research-centre/
If you have significant anncouncements that are directly relevant to LSST:UK and would like to share the announcement in a future newsletter, please contact the LSST:UK project managers.