The undoubted highlight of the last month for the global LSST community was the Rubin First Look celebrations which took place on 23 June. There were at least 20 Watch Parties in the UK following the livestream of First Look press conference in Washington DC and I’m sure that many more of you watched it online, via YouTube.

In addition to the release of the First Look images – and the presence of an impressive array of US funding agency staff thanking each other at length! – the press conference included a very cool video of ~2000 new asteroids found in seven nights of commissioning observations, which I’m told compares with only about 4000 discovered by all other means so far this year. My favourite image is the one shown on the right, which is part of the Virgo Cluster, imaged to ~5 year depth and cropped to ~2% of the LSSTCam field of view, which is equivalent to about one hundred thousandth of the area of the Wide-Fast-Deep survey…so, in just over five years' time, we will have an image of the southern sky equivalent to 10⁵ of that one!

As @Eleanor O'Kane notes below, we managed to secure excellent coverage of First Look in the UK media, enabling us to highlight UK contributions to Rubin, as well as the level of anticipation within the UK community. That was thanks to great efforts by @Eleanor O'Kane, ably abetted by @Catherine Heymans and @Chris Lintott, who made great use of their existing media contacts, and by the much larger number of people who made themselves available to be interviewed by journalists from a broad range of broadcast, print and online media; please let @Eleanor O'Kane know if you were interviewed, so we can track that. We also benefitted from enthusiasm engendered in the press offices of a number of consortium institutions, and that all augurs well for the future.

I’m sure, however, that I wasn’t the only person for whom the excitement of First Look was tempered by sadness that we were not sharing it with our late colleague and friend Ian Shipsey, who did so much for the LSST before, as well as after, his return to the UK from the US in 2014. Few would have matched the enthusiasm with which Ian would have greeted these images!

This month has also seen some changes in the LSST:UK leadership, as @Mike Watson notes below. I’d like to add my personal thanks to those stepping down from the Exec Group, all of whom have provided very helpful guidance during their terms. Particular thanks are, however, due to @Richard McMahon, who has been a constant presence on the Exec since it was created, in November 2014; a remarkable commitment to community service.

Finally, a reminder that our current data rights call remains open until 29 July.

@Bob Mann

At 5.01 am on 23 June, as I accessed the first set of Rubin images, my confidence in securing widespread press coverage for LSST:UK wasn't as high as my level of delight in finally seeing the files. Escalating tensions between Iran and Israel were dominating the news cycle, leading to the cancellation of a couple of planned LSST:UK broadcast interviews in the 48 hours before First Look.

Auspiciously, Radio 4’s flagship news programme Today kicked off the broadcast coverage by bookending its episode with Rubin news. A pre-recorded visit to Cerro Pachón by one of its reporters gave a hint of the scale of the project and, in the closing section,@Catherine Heymans talked about how Rubin will revolutionise astronomy in the UK (go to 2.47).

So far, so good and, as the day progressed, it seemed as if the UK was as enthralled as the rest of the world with the Rubin images, which were rapidly going viral.

Some outlets such as The Guardian and New Scientist had done their preparation in advance, talking to LSST:UK team members in the days leading up to First Look then patiently waiting to publish the articles along with the all-important images.

More UK takes on the global news story included appearances by @Andy Lawrence and@Graham Smithon BBC Scotland and the 24-hour rolling BBC News channel (top right) respectively. For The Observer @Bob Mann, @Danielle Leonard and @Meg Schwamb conveyed the sky survey’s significance and scale.

By evening, @Manda Banerji was on her way to Manchester ahead of an appearance on the BBC Breakfast sofa the following morning. Her interview (middle right) was another chance for audiences to appreciate the significance of First Look and helped to cement the UK connection with Rubin.

Astronomy was not the only focus on the coverage; the UK’s efforts to address Rubin’s data challenges have also captured the public’s imagination, as demonstrated by articles on Space.com and Computer Weekly. Many of the Consortium institutions supported our efforts by publishing their own web and social media stories, highlighting local involvement. Each press team has its own regional and specialist media contacts, which helps to amplify awareness of LSST:UK.

Stories are continuing to come in: the August issue of Astronomy Now will run a feature on Lasair and the UK data facility, complementing the interview with @Graham Smith that appeared ahead of First Look in the July issue (bottom right); @Aprajita Verma's interview for NZZ, the German-Swiss newspaper of record, has also been published.

As @Bob Mann noted in his introduction, the First Look UK media push was a true team effort, and just some of those who contributed to the UK coverage – as well as the LSST:UK UK coverage itself – have been mentioned here. Thank you to everyone who eloquently provided a quote or interview, offered advice or passed on a useful contact, often at very short notice during a busy (but exhilarating) time.

This was our first major opportunity to engage with the media. The next step is to follow up with various institutions to get feedback on our First Look media activity so we can hone our approach in advance of the next big media splash.

@Eleanor O'Kane

This month sees some changes in the membership of the LSST:UK Exec Group, which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the project.

Cosimo Inserra, Richard McMahon and Kathy Romer (pictured) have just stepped down from the Group and we thank them for their excellent contributions over the years that they have served. All three will undoubtedly remain actively engaged with the Consortium as Rubin data start to flow.

Three new members have been appointed to Exec (by the Board) following an open call for nominations. We are pleased to welcome @Christopher Frohmaier , @Catherine Heymans and @Matthew Temple (also pictured) to the Group: they will serve for three years initially and we hope they enjoy contributing to the project in this important way. For Catherine, it’s ‘welcome back’ as she previously served on the Exec but stepped down for health reasons.

The current term of office of @Bob Mann who is the LSST:UK Project Leader has recently come to an end. But the good news is that the Board has very recently agreed to re-appoint Bob for three years. This follows an open call for possible new candidates but, as it turned out, no new candidates came forward to fill this demanding key, role.

Bob has served as Project Leader for more than a decade and has confidently steered the Consortium as it has developed. So congratulations to Bob and we wish him well as he continues to lead the Consortium in what will undoubtedly be exciting times!

Around the UK and across the world on the afternoon of 23 June, people gathered at Watch Parties in anticipation of the reveal of the full set of First Look images.

Among the Consortium institutions, Oxford and Birmingham held public events while staff and students gathered at private Watch Parties in Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leicester, Portsmouth, and Sussex. Many of the events were accompanied by talks by LSST:UK astronomers and, in at least one case, by free pizza.

In Edinburgh, the Dynamic Earth science centre and planetarium held a public event (pictured below) featuring a panel including @Bob Mann @Catherine Heymans @Andy Lawrence @George Beckett and Agata Rożek from the University of Edinburgh (below right). The planetarium’s 360-degree viewing screen enabled the audience to appreciate the spectacular high-definition images in all their glory.

@Dave McKay who took his family to Dynamic Earth for the reveal said his sons were awe inspired by the scale of the images: “Matteo, seven, kept shouting "Yo!" when a new galaxy came into view, saying, "The Lagoon Nebula is the best because it's hot pink," "I don't have a favourite bit, because it was all my favourite bit," and "When we get home, can I look at the pictures on my tablet?" Finlay, nine, said, "it was amazing, I felt like I was in space.”