LSST:UK Newsletter 42 (March 2024)
- 1 Introduction
- 2 LSST:UK Travel support for Rubin Community Workshop 2024 and LSST@Europe
- 3 Save The Date: Wednesday 24 April: An online Intro to the Rubin Science Platform Session!
- 4 2024 LSST Data Rights Call
- 5 Latest LUSC Team Meeting
- 6 LSST:UK Communications update
- 7 Watch: Chile at the forefront of studying the Universe
- 8 Recent LSST:UK Science Centre outputs
- 9 News in brief
- 10 Forthcoming meetings of interest
- 11 Announcements
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 1 June (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.
Registration has also opened for the LSST@Europe6 conference. It will take place during the week of 16-20 September 2024 at Los Cancajos, on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. As in previous years, this conference will feature a mixture of updates from Rubin staff and talks about in-kind contributions from, and science planning activities within, the European portion of the LSST community. In-person attendance is limited to 200 people, but remote attendance is possible, too. 1 May is the deadline for abstract submission, while early-bird registration (at a reduced rate for both in-person and remote attendees) closes on 1 June. LSST:UK has made a very strong showing at previous LSST@Europe conferences, so I hope that many of you will want to attend this one.
@Bob Mann
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).
@George Beckett
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. 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).
Access the signup form:
@James Mullaney
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 to lusc-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).
@Eleanor O'Kane
LSST:UK Communications update
@Eleanor O'Kane
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.
@Eleanor O'Kane
Recent LSST:UK Science Centre outputs
The LSST:UK Science Centre has recently produced the following technical reports.
Title | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|
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. |
@Terry Sloan
News in brief
@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.
Dates | Meeting Title / Event | Meeting Website/ Contact | Meeting location / venue |
|---|---|---|---|
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 |
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)
If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact the LSST:UK Project Managers lusc_pm@mlist.is.ed.ac.uk or phone +44 131 651 3577