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1 August 2018: Project & Science News LSST 2018, The Project and Community Workshop is just two weeks away! The meeting agenda is available at this link. A reminder that the call for white papers for LSST cadence optimization is ongoing, and the deadline is November 30, 2018. An LSST Town Hall has been approved for the 233rd AAS Meeting, January 6-10 in Seattle, WA. The Town Hall will take place on Wednesday, January 9 from 7:30-8:30 p.m. More details, including speakers and location, will be announced as they are available. The Education and Public Outreach (EPO) team hosted a teacher focus group in Tucson on July 16-18. This was the second in a series of events to collect feedback from educators about the formal education products being developed by the EPO team. Read more about the event in this recent news post, and view photos in the LSST Gallery. The washing station, …

18 July 2018: Project & Science News Registration for LSST 2018 is now closed. Approximately 320 people registered for the meeting, the highest attendance number to date. The block agenda for the meeting is available at this link. The Camera team reports a major project accomplishment: in late June, construction of the Cryostat assembly was completed at SLAC. The assembly was moved to the SLAC IR2 Cleanroom Facility, where the Cryostat pump plate was attached, and the assembly underwent early vacuum-testing. A photo of the completed Cryostat is available in the LSST Gallery. The Camera team received the last sensor to be provided by the UA Imaging Technology Laboratory (ITL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on July 12. The second sensor vendor, which is providing the balance of sensors required by the project, has fewer than 25 sensors to complete. At BNL, assembly of science-raft tower modules (RTMs) using these sensors is moving …

5 July 2018: Project & Science News The LSST science community is invited to play a key role in the definition of LSST’s Observing Strategy. The LSST Project is now soliciting white papers to help plan various aspects of the survey strategy. The deadline for white paper submission is November 30, 2018. Click here for more details. The registration deadline for LSST 2018 is July 9; if you haven’t already registered, it’s time! A detailed block agenda for the meeting is now available. An LSST team recently visited the Coating Plant vendor Von Ardenne in Germany in mid-June to confirm coating functionality and to approve packaging and shipment of the Coating Plant to Chile. As a result of this successful visit, transport arrangements are underway; a vessel to transport the Coating Plant has been booked for August 22, 2018. The Washing Station, another deliverable in the Coating Plant contract, shipped on June 24 …

20 June 2018: Project & Science News The deadline for registration for LSST 2018 is July 9. Watch for a draft agenda for the meeting, which will be available soon. The TVSSC (Transient and Variable Stars Science Collaboration) Survey Strategy Proposal Preparation Workshop took place in Bethlehem, PA on June 4-8. The purpose of the meeting was to organize the response of the TVSSC in advance of the upcoming LSST Observing Strategy call for white papers, which is scheduled for late June. The annual SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conference took place in Austin, TX from June 10-15. LSST was well-represented with more than 35 posters, presentations, and invited talks highlighting LSST construction progress. LSST@Europe3 wrapped up in Lyon on June 15. The meeting gathered approximately 150 participants for 5 days of talks, tours, and informal opportunities for networking between members of the LSST Project and the European science community. Recordings of many …

5 June 2018: Project & Science News Cast your votes now for sessions at LSST 2018; voting closes tomorrow, June 6. LSST will be hosting Booth #614 at the SPIE conference in Austin June 11-15. If you’re attending the conference, please stop by. The 4th version of the LSST overview paper, “LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products,” was submitted to arXiv on May 25. Since its first submission 10 years ago, the paper has grown from 29 to 57 pages, and the author list has increased from 93 to 313. LSST is featured in a recent article in Universe Today titled, “What are the Chances that the Next Generation LSST Could Find New Planets in our Solar System?” A time-lapse video of the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) effort at the Asturfeito factory in Spain is now available in the LSST Gallery.* A Commissioning Science Validation Bootcamp took place …

23 May 2018: Project & Science News Don’t forget to register for LSST 2018 using this link. The deadline for registration is July 9. LSST was mentioned in a recent article by Ellen Meyer (UMBC) about the future of astronomy and data, originally published in The Conversation and re-printed in the San Francisco Chronicle and at Smithsonian.com. In Spain, a reception was held at the factory of LSST vendor Asturfeito on May 14 to acknowledge the significance of the work completed on the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA). Approximately 200 people attended, including local government officials and industry dignitaries. A news article describing the event can be found here. Installation of the first summit network equipment took place on Cerro Pachón at the beginning of May. After readying the summit computer room, which included ensuring the space was appropriately clean and temperature-controlled, the IT team began installing servers in this space, which will serve …

8 May 2018: Project & Science News Registration is open for LSST 2018; register now at this link. Proposals for meeting sessions are also currently being accepted here. The deadline for submitting session topics is May 14. Several LSST subsystem staff presented status updates and recent accomplishments on May 1 at the LSST Open House for the AURA Member Representatives Meeting in Tucson, AZ. An LSST team spent 5 days in Spain last month conducting a thorough safety review of the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) at the facility of vendor Asturfeito. The group inspected the numerous safety features included in the TMA, and reviewed the procedures by which the group of vendors responsible for building the TMA (referred to as UTE) will verify that the hazard mitigations meet LSST requirements. Read more about the review in this news post. The Education and Public Outreach (EPO) subsystem held a Citizen science workshop in April …

25 April 2018: Project & Science News Save the date! The LSST 2018 Project and Community Workshop will take place the week of August 13 in Tucson, AZ. More details will be available soon. Symmetry Magazine, a joint publication of Fermilab and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, published an article about LSST on April 17 titled “The world’s largest astronomical movie,” which features detailed information and visualizations of the LSST Camera. An LSST cross-project team met at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) on April 3-4 to conduct the latest in a series of Early Integration Pathfinder Activities. This activity focused on simulated control and image collection for the nominal Auxiliary Telescope visit sequence. Read more about the activity here, and view a group photo taken at the event in the LSST Gallery. LSST’s series of spring subsystem meetings concluded last week with the Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Subsystem Meeting, held …

27 February 2018: Project & Science News An Education and Public Outreach (EPO) focus group for teachers was held in Tucson on February 3-4. Led by LSST Education Specialist Ardis Herrold, the event gathered 11 high school and college educators from across the U.S. to solicit feedback on prototypes of the online educator tools, including Jupyter Notebook-based interactive astronomy investigations, currently being developed by the EPO team. Read more about the meeting in this recent news post. The Project Office kicked off a series of spring LSST subsystem meetings on February 12 in Tucson, AZ. Subsystem managers, administrators, and other project office staff members joined LSST’s Senior Management team for a day of project updates and discussion. A group photo of the event is available in the LSST Gallery. The next subsystem meeting will be held by Telescope and Site, on February 28-March 2 in Tucson. The first column of the LSST Summit …

14 February 2018: Project & Science News A meeting of AURA’s Management Council for LSST (AMCL) took place in Tucson on January 29-30. The AMCL, which meets three times a year, is AURA’s oversight and advocacy committee for LSST. AURA President Matt Mountain was present along with LSST Senior Management for a productive agenda of presentations and discussions. The AMCL will meet again April 19-20 in Washington, DC. The LSST Overview paper will be issued soon; to prepare for this, the Project Office has initiated verification of the “Builders List” in order to correctly credit and recognize the efforts of LSST team members. LSST’s Auxiliary Telescope, which has been under refurbishment at the LSST Project Office in Tucson, will soon undergo functional testing of its mechanical and electrical systems. Read more about the Auxiliary Telescope and its role in the LSST survey in this recent news post. The Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) …

31 January 2018: Project & Science News The 231st AAS Meeting concluded on January 12 in National Harbor, MD. LSST hosted a well-attended Town Hall during the meeting; slides from presentations given by Beth Willman, Federica Bianco, and Adam Bolton at the event are available here. LSST also staffed an exhibit booth (photo here) in the NSF Pavilion throughout the meeting. To alleviate persistent communications challenges with terminology LSST will no longer use the Data Management terms “Level 1,” “Level 2,” and “Level 3” for communication with the scientific community about LSST data products. Instead we will use the clearer terms “Prompt Products,” “Data Release Products,” and “User Generated Products,” respectively. This terminology is consistent with the descriptions of each of the three product types in Project documents. A selection of community-facing Project documents and webpages are being updated to reflect the change. A Provisional Acceptance Test of the washing facility will take …

18 January 2018: Project & Science News Happy New Year, and welcome back! We hope you all had a relaxing holiday break and are ready for the exciting year ahead. LSST Assembly Integration Verification (AIV) Manager Jacques Sebag submitted this spectacular drone footage of the LSST facility, taken on December 28. The video was taken after the LSST team collaborated with subcontractor Besalco to move the facility mobile roof to the flat area located on the north side of the lower enclosure. Congratulations to all for this achievement at the end of 2017! The LSST Network Engineering Team (NET) is pleased to announce the first successful transfer of digital data over LSST/AURA fiber optic networks from the Summit Site on Cerro Pachon, Chile to the Base Site in La Serena, Chile and on to the Archive Site at NCSA in Champaign. The test transmissions started on December 18 and continued through December 22. …

21 December 2017: Project & Science News On December 13th LSST was featured on ABC 7 News with footage from the SLAC National Accelerator Lab. An all-project LSST Joint Technical Meeting will not be held in 2018 as in past years; instead, individual subsystem meetings will be held in the spring. Dates for each of these meetings can now be found in the Digest meeting list below, or on the LSST website. The first of 21 Science Rafts for LSST’s 3.2-gigapixel camera have arrived at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The rafts are arrays of nine imaging sensors, or CCDs, each with 4K-by-4K pixels. To date, 60% of the camera’s sensors have been received at BNL, and delivery rate is on track to maintain the current schedule. Click here for photos of the arrival of the Science Rafts at SLAC. Another milestone for the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) in …

5 December 2017: LSST News Digest Addendum, December 6, 2017 The following item was not included in the December 5 LSST News Digest:Reminder: The deadline for submitting to the 2018 LSST Corporation Enabling Science Call for Proposals is at Midnight (PST) on Monday, December 18. Information and instructions for submitting a proposal can be found at this link (login required) Project & Science News Seeing the Beginning of Time, a NCSA-produced documentary that includes a segment on LSST, will be screened during the upcoming American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting, on Tuesday, January 9 from 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. Check the final AAS meeting schedule for the screening location and other details; more information about the movie can be found here. The Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) continues to come together at subcontractor Asturfeito in Spain; this time-lapse videoshows the top end of the telescope being mounted onto the elevation structure. The TMA is currently …

21 November 2017: Project & Science News A reminder: The LSST Town Hall at AAS 231 will take place on Wednesday, January 10th, 2018, at 7:30 pm. This Town Hall will include developments in the planning of LSST’s observing strategy and commissioning policies, and updates from the LSST Corporation and Science Collaborations on community preparations for science with LSST. A successful LSST Safety Review, conducted by the Safety Council, took place in Chile on November 7-9, 2017. The focus of this review was to assess Chilean Base Facility and Summit Site safety processes. The presentations and tours demonstrated that safety has been effectively integrated into all levels of the Project, and that there is a high level of commitment to safety by LSST Project Management. Click here for a group photo from the event. LSST’s fiber-optic network came one milestone closer to activation last week; the AURA LSST Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) …

7 November 2017: Project & Science News A Day in the Life of LSST Construction, Part III is now available! We received 142 submissions which were compiled into an 11-minute video that can be viewed in the LSST Gallery and on our YouTube channel. Thank you to all contributors, and to LSST Graphic Designer Emily Acosta for assembling the images, videos, and captions together into the final product. Telescope & Site team members Tomislav Vucina and Doug Neil travelled to Germany recently to review progress on the Coating Plant, which will be used to aluminize both LSST’s Primary/Tertiary Mirror (M1M3) and its Secondary Mirror (M2). At the MAN factory in Deggendorf, the LSST Team verified that major components of the Coating Chamber Assembly are in place. The team then traveled to the Von Ardenne facilities in Dresden, where they inspected the Washing Boom and other components of the already-assembled Washing Station. Photos from …

24 October 2017: Project & Science News On the summit of Cerro Pachón, the grouting of the azimuth/dome interface has been completed (click here for a photo). Subcontractor EIE recently held an onsite assembly plan review to confirm the sequence of construction activities, and plans to begin installation of the azimuth rail sections this week. The Primary/Tertiary Mirror (M1M3) cell underwent vacuum testing at subcontractor CAID last week, to identify and eliminate any leaks in the cell. Click here for a photo of the sealed cell during testing, which concluded successfully on October 18. Installation of static supports is scheduled to get underway this week. The first filter for the Commissioning Camera has been completed and has arrived at the Project Office in Tucson. The i-band filter, which is about 12 inches in diameter, is currently undergoing testing in the optics lab. Longtime LSST Communications Manager Suzanne Jacoby will transition to the role …

10 October 2017: Project & Science News The dates and location for the 2018 LSST Project and Community Workshop have been selected; the event will be held at the Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson, AZ on August 13-17, 2018. The Education and Public Outreach (EPO) team recently completed a successful review, which was held in Tucson on September 26-28. EPO has made substantial progress in the last year, and recommendations from this review will be used to guide further development of the EPO program’s infrastructure. Read more about the review, and EPO’s exciting plans to engage the public with LSST data, in this blog post. Congratulations to Vincent Riot (LLNL), who has been appointed the permanent Project Manager for the LSST Camera. Vincent has held this position on an interim basis for just over a year, effectively managing challenges in order to keep the camera project on track. Members of the Telescope & …

26 September 2017: Project & Science News The AURA Management Council for LSST (AMCL) meeting took place September 14-15 in Tucson. The Council met with Project leadership to evaluate and discuss the current state of LSST. They also had access to reports from the recent Joint Status Review and Director’s Review, and were able to productively discuss topics raised in both of these meetings. Many LSST team members traveled to the path of totality for last month’s total solar eclipse and returned with impressive photos and stories to share. You can read about the experiences of Associate Scientist Keith Bechtol and Project Scientist Chuck Claver in this recent blog post. LSST Project Manager Victor Krabbendam led an NSF visit to the LSST sites in Chile on September 20-22. The group toured the summit installations on Cerro Pachón as well as the LSST Base Facility construction in the AURA Recinto in La Serena. The …

14 September 2017: Project & Science News The NSF/DOE Joint Status Review (JSR) took place in Tucson Sept 6-8, in parallel with a separate Earned Value Management System surveillance review covering only the NSF-funded activities. The JSR committee was charged with assessing the current status of the project and to evaluate plans for the future, with emphasis on the next year of construction. The overall consensus of the review committee is that the Project is going very well. This Thursday, Sept 14 the day for LSST Project participants to submit photos for LSST’s next “Day in the Life” (DITL) video. This is our 3rd DITL video and again we hope to get a view of the full breadth of LSST effort being applied on a typical day in LSST construction. Previous versions of the video can be found at the LSST YouTube channel. Updated information on the LSST Deep Drilling Fields has been …