Introduction

Rubin alerts and broker workshop – January 2025

To coincide with a visit by Eric Bellm from the Rubin Data Management team, the Lasair team is hosting a workshop on 13-14 January 2025 in Oxford. On the agenda will be the latest news on LSST alerts and broker provision.

Eric leads the team at the University of Washington that are building the real-time data processing pipelines for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. He is the Alert Production Science lead and is also the Survey Scientist for the Zwicky Transient Facility. With ComCam observing the sky on the Simonyi telescope now, and LSSTCam to come in early 2025, this LSST:UK community workshop will discuss the latest updates from the Rubin Data Management team. This will inform our final development stage for the Lasair broker as we approach the start of LSST alerts in 2025.

We encourage in-person attendance at the event to discuss what we can jointly achieve between the Rubin Alert Production team and the brokers. We will make provision for hybrid attendance. Personnel from other brokers are very welcome to attend, although our timing will be most suited to European time zones (two mornings GMT).

On behalf of the Lasair Team, I look forward to seeing you in Oxford as excitement builds for the start of LSST alerts in 2025.

Stephen Smartt

Story on CHEP - Roger Jones / Matt Doidge

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LSST AGN conference – James Mullaney?

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Communications news

Have you completed the Scientist in the Spotlight questionnaire yet?

LSST:UK Scientist in the Spotlight is a planned series of short interviews with people working in LSST:UK.

By telling us about your passions and pathways into LSST:UK, we want to show how astronomy is an exciting and rewarding subject that welcomes people of different backgrounds, talents and interests. The interviews will be published in this newsletter and on the LSST:UK website when it relaunches for 2025. We will also use snippets on our social media channels.

Everyone is encouraged to participate. I will come back to you to let you know when your interview is planned to go live, to run the text past you for final approval and to request a headshot or other image relating to you and your work. If you have any questions, get in touch with Eleanor O’Kane, LSST:UK Communications Officer: eokane@roe.ac.uk

Free Introduction to News Media event from the Science Media Centre

Launched by the Science Media Centre to encourage scientists to engage with the media, the next Introduction to News Media seminar takes place on 5 February 2025 in London The event is for scientists from any institution (postdoctoral level or professional equivalent and above) who have little or no experience with the media. It aims to benefit those who are “media shy, feel negatively about engaging with journalists or are downright scared that they will get it wrong.” Senior scientists are particularly welcome.

As an afternoon event, the session will highlight how researchers are engaging with the media to improve the quality of science news and explain how to work with your institutional press team. The audience will hear from scientists who have worked with the media about their experiences and have a chance to question national science journalists about what they are seeking when they work with researchers.

Introduction to the News Media takes place in person on Wednesday 5 February at King’s College London (Denmark Hill Campus) from 13:30 - 17:30, followed by a drinks reception.

Places are limited and anyone wishing to attend should register interest here [forms.office.com].

Eleanor O'Kane

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.