Introduction
This has been a momentous month for the LSST community, but, for many of us, the news of milestone after milestone being passed in Chile has been overshadowed by the unexpected loss of one of our own: as many of you will already know, Ian Shipsey (right) died suddenly in Oxford on 7 October.
Ian had been part of the LSST camera team for many years before his return to the UK in 2013, just as the LSST:UK Consortium was taking shape, and he remained a very active member of the consortium ever since then, despite his range of other responsibilities, most notably as Head of the Department of Physics at Oxford since 2018. Ian led a detector lab there that contributed to instrumentation in both particle physics and astronomy – he liked to say that he worked on the LHC and the LSST, the two most exciting projects in physics – and one of my strongest memories of Ian was his passionate explanation of the importance of the LSST for particle physics, as well as astronomy, during our Phase A presentation to PPRP, which I am sure played a significant role in our project’s adoption as a major piece of the PPAN programme.
What I will remember most about Ian, though, was the positive energy that he brought to every meeting, his enthusiasm for physics and, especially, the joy that he showed at the talent and success of those around him. We are fortunate as scientists to encounter many very clever people, but few combine their intellectual gifts with the delight that Ian displayed for science and the warmth and support that he provided his colleagues. I am sure that members of LSST:UK will want to express their sincere condolences to Ian’s family and to the friends and colleagues who were closest to him. Daniel Philip Weatherill writes more about Ian below, while other appreciations have been posted online by the Department of Physics and Division of Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences at Oxford, and by Ian’s college, St Catherine’s.
The news from Cerro Pachón this month has been very exciting. First, the M1M3 mirror was installed (right) in the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) and a great video shows its passage from the maintenance level in the summit facility up into the dome and into the TMA, to complete the installation of the Simonyi Survey Telescope, which was subsequently formally named (see below). Later in the month came the news that, on the 24 October, end-to-end operation of that telescope had been first demonstrated, with an on-sky image taken by the commissioning camera, ComCam, being successfully transmitted from the summit to the US Data Facility at SLAC, in California. Needless to say, this is a huge milestone for the project, and our congratulations go to all those who have contributed to this achievement, over many, many years.
Lasair team members recognised by the Institute of Physics
Lasair team members Ken Smith and Dave Younghave been awarded the Institute of Physics (IOP) 2024 Technician Award. The pair have been recognised for their internationally recognised technical expertise, exceptional software skills and dedication to astrophysics.
Reacting to the news, Dave (pictured above, right) said: “Winning any award is a delight, but it's even more special to be recognised via the nominations of colleagues, the people I work with every day. The award reflects not only Ken and my individual achievements but also underscores the remarkable teamwork of the groups we work with, the Lasair team being a prime example.”
Ken (pictured above, left) added: “Being nominated by colleagues is even more satisfying than actually winning anything. Our software is also built on a foundation of work by the IT management staff within Astrophysics at Queen's University Belfast, without whom we can’t run any service, so this award recognises them as much as us!”
Ken said: “Over the years, the work we do has evolved from providing bespoke transient object discovery services within the internationally based Pan-STARRS and ATLAS teams to contributing to the development of the transient broker service Lasair for LSST. I feel a little embarrassed to receive special recognition when so much of Lasair’s core development and deployment is done by my colleagues in the team, especially at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. We’re excited and slightly apprehensive at the volume of data that Lasair will need to handle when the telescope is commissioned in 2025.”
According to Dave, when he and Ken first started developing software to help enable academics to do better science, they had difficulty explaining their amorphous responsibilities to others. “Chasing citations has never been our primary aim, but nor would we describe ourselves as typical software developers. Unbeknownst to me, the same month I started my role, a group of similar academics-come-developers met at Queen's College Oxford to discuss their collective identity crisis. There, they coined the term Research Software Engineer (RSE) – both succinctly defining their roles and unwittingly birthing a global movement. More than a decade after that fateful meeting, thanks in part to the tireless campaigning of the Software Sustainability Institute, many universities now host their own dedicated RSE groups. Presently, wonderfully creative initiatives like the HiddenREF are helping to raise the profile of many other under-recognised roles within academia under the Research Technical Professionals (RTP) umbrella term. For early career researchers, the career path options on offer are becoming refreshingly diverse.
“More than a decade after that fateful meeting, thanks in part to the tireless campaigning of the Software Sustainability Institute, many universities now host their own dedicated RSE groups. Presently, wonderfully creative initiatives like the HiddenREF are helping to raise the profile of many other under-recognised roles within academia under the 'Research Technical Professionals' (RTP) umbrella term. For early career researchers, the career path options on offer are becoming refreshingly diverse.”
ComCam captures the sky for the first time
On 24 October, decades of work by the Rubin team came to fruition as the first on-sky data was captured by the commissioning camera (known as ComCam) and successfully transferred to the SLAC Data Facility in California.
Physically the same size as the LSST Camera, ComCam has a detector that is around 20 times smaller: 144 megapixels compared to the 3200-megapixel science camera.
. The group photo, below right, was taken in the closed dome through a pinhole ahead of the on-sky test.
The test camera will enable the Rubin team to verify key components of the system and resolve any issues before installation of the LSST camera.
Images: RubinObs/NSF/DOE/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/H. Stockebrand
Rubin-Euclid Derived Data Products update
The Rubin-Euclid Derived Data Products (DDPs) are high-level data products to be generated by combining the separate Rubin and Euclid survey data. A joint working group established by the two projects defined an extensive and diverse set of DDPs that are summarised in the Rubin-Euclid Derived Data Products report (Guy et al. 2022).
A joint Rubin/Euclid implementation working group has now been established to steer the community in generating the DDPs. To engage with the Rubin-Euclid DDP effort you can join the community forum at https://community.rubin-euclid-ddp.org/.
An initial workshop was held in September to report on relevant efforts in DDP production. Slides and recordings can be accessed at the link https://community.rubin-euclid-ddp.org/t/ddp-community-workshop-meetings-sept-23-26-2024/748
Dummy header for Dan to change
LSST Solar System Readiness Sprint report
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LSST:UK Communications
A chance to help demystify LSST:UK and increase engagement in astronomy plus a training course to help those new to communicating their work.
Training for early career researchers – 12 November 2024
How should you organise my presentation when there’s so much info to include? What’s the most efficient way to help people understand the impact of your work? These questions and more will be addressed on 12 November 2024 in the Science communication for early career researchers online training session.
This one-hour course is designed for researchers who are new to communicating their work. In a relaxed session, you’ll get tips and advice for tailoring your messages to your audience and understand how to collaborate with press officers to maximise the impact of your work.
This session will be recorded.
The session also highlights communication platforms in which participants can develop further skills, such as writing/collaborating on press releases, article writing (for outlets such as The Conversation), press/media interviews and social media. These specific areas will be covered in more detail in future sessions.
Science communication for early career researchers
Tuesday 12 November 12.00-13.00 | Online (Zoom)
Sign up to the training session using https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=sAafLmkWiUWHiRCgaTTcYS1f7CCXkopNp511BWKFKsJUMjVHSkRDMVRZME02VVQ2NFYzU1VVMUszUS4u
Highlight your work and engage others in astronomy
We are planning series of easygoing interviews with people working in LSST:UK. Inspired by content such as the Dark Energy Survey’s https://www.darkenergysurvey.org/education/scientist-of-the-week/, we want to pull back the velvet curtain of LSST:UK.
By highlighting your passions and pathways, we hope to show more people that astronomy is an accessible area in which to invest their own talents and time. The interviews will be published in this newsletter and on the LSST:UK website when it relaunches for 2025. We will also use snippets/quotes on our social media channels.
By taking part, you’ll help to:
make science tangible for more people
build a picture of the range of talent within LSST:UK
dispel myths around what a scientist looks / sounds like
inspire budding astronomers and inform curious bystanders
How to participate
Take a look at and complete the questions in this webform https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=sAafLmkWiUWHiRCgaTTcYS1f7CCXkopNp511BWKFKsJUQ0E1QklVTDE2TjZKUjQ0QlJINUlJTUozVi4u . Your answers can be short; if you don't wish to answer a question, please skip it.
I will come back to you to let you know when your interview will be live, to run the text past you for final approval and to request a headshot or other image relating to you and your work.
Everyone is encouraged to participate.
Simonyi Survey Telescope Dedicated
Software architect Charles Simonyi and his family were guests of honour at Cerro Pachón on 4 October 2024 for the dedication of the Simonyi Survey Telescope.
A $20 million gift by the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences in 2008 enabled the construction of the telescope’s mirrors.
The donation also contributed to programmes such as the LSST Corporation (now the LSST Discovery Alliance) Data Science Fellowship Program, which trains graduate students to meet the scientific challenges posed by large astronomy datasets.
Left: Charles Simonyi and his family, pictured with Rubin Observatory representatives.
Leadership positions held by LSST:UK members
Here is the latest list of significant leadership positions held by members of the LSST:UK consortium in the project and international Science Collaborations. If you are aware of any corrections or additions, please contact the LSST:UK Project Managers (George Beckett and Terry Sloan: lusc_pm@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk).
David Alonso | Co-convenor of the DESC External Synergies Working Group; CMB-S4 DESC Liaison; Simons Observatory DESC Liaison; UK representative on DESC Operations Committee; Core Cosmology Library (CCL) Team lead. |
David Bacon | Member of DESC Speakers Bureau |
Manda Banerji | Member of the Rubin-Euclid DDP Working Group; Galaxies SC member of the Rubin International In-Kind Contribution Evaluation Committee (CEC). |
George Beckett | Member of the LSST DESC High-performance computing resources committee; UK representative on Rubin Data Production Leadership Committee. |
Rebecca Bowler | Co-chair of the SED fitting and Photometric Redshifts Working Group in the LSST Galaxies Science Collaboration. |
Erminia Calabrese | DESC Advisory Board |
Victor Debattista | Co-lead of the Galactic Bulge WG in the LSST Stars, Milky Way and Local Volume Science Collaboration |
Tassia Ferreira | Member of DESC Collaboration Council; Member of the DESC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. |
Chris Frohmaier | 4MOST Extra-Galactic Deputy Project Scientist |
Carlos Garcia-Garcia | Co-convenor of the Weak Lenising and Large Scale Structure (LSS) Working Group |
Qianjun Hang | Co-lead of the DESC RAIL Topical team |
Joachim Harnois-Déraps | DESC Higher Order Statistics (HOS) topical team co-lead |
Peter Hatfield | Co-chair of the Galaxy Environment Working Group in the LSST Galaxies Science Collaboration |
Catherine Heymans | Member of the Rubin-Euclid DDP Implementation Working Group |
Jenny Hiscox | Member of DESC International Resources Committee |
Sebastian Hoenig | In-kind contribution coordinator for the AGN Science Collaboration; AGN SC alternate member of the International In-Kind Contribution Evaluation Committee. |
Sugata Kaviraj | Co-chair of the LSST Galaxies Science Collaboration; Co-chair of the Low Surface Brightness Coordination Group. |
Ofer Lahav | Member of DESC Publication Board |
Boris Leistedt | Co-convenor of the Weak Lensing and Large Scale Structure (LSS) Working Group |
D. Leonard | Co-lead of the DESC Modelling and Combined Probes Analysis Working Group |
Chris Lintott | leads the LSST EPO development of Zooniverse as a citizen science platform |
James Mullaney | Chair of the Active Galactic Nuclei WG in the LSST Galaxies Science Collaboration |
Cyrielle Opitom | Co-lead Active objects WG in the LSST Solar System Science Collaboration |
Subir Sarkar | Lead of DESC Project 52 -- Testing the isotropy of the universe |
Meg Schwamb | Co-chair of Solar System Science Collaboration |
Stephen Smartt | member of the Survey Cadence and Optimisation Committee; DESC Rubin Observatory Project and Facility Operations liaison for Survey Cadence and Optimisation Committee. |
Graham Smith | Co-chair of the Strong Gravitational Lensing Science Collaboration (SLSC); Commissioning Liaison for the SLSC. |
Sreevarsha Sreejith | Member of the DESC Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee |
Mark Sullivan | Co-lead of the DESC Time Domain Analysis Working Group; Member of the DESC Membership Committee; 4MOST/TiDES DESC Liaison. |
Aprajita Verma | In-kind Program Coordination Team Lead; Lead of the Galaxies Science Collaboration Strong Lensing Working Group; Member of SLSC Advisory Group; SLSC rep on the Rubin SC’s DEI Council; Chair of the Software Sub-committee and International Program Coordinator in the Rubin Director’s Office |
Maria Vincenzi | Co-convener of the DESC Time Domain Analysis Working Group |
Aaron Watkins | Co-lead of the LSST LSB challenge 1: "How do LSST algorithms do at detecting LSB sources?" ; Co-chair of the low-surface-brightness working group within the LSST Galaxies Science collaboration; Co-chair of the Low Surface Brightness Coordination Group. |
Carola Zanoletti | Co-lead of the DESC Beyond wCDM team |
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 venue/ location |
|---|---|---|---|
10/Nov/24—14/Nov/24 | Astronomical Data Analysis Software & Systems (ADASS) | Malta/ Virtual | |
28/Oct/24—01/Nov/24 | DESC Sprint Week | https://confluence.slac.stanford.edu/display/LSSTDESC/Sprint+Week+2024%3A+Registration | SLAC, California (hybrid) |
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
If you have significant news or 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)