Rubin Digest 24 September 2019

24 September 2019

Project & Science News

The LSST Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) is on the summit! The TMA was successfully transported from the port in Coquimbo to Cerro Pachón during the week following its arrival in Chile on September 7th. The 26 disassembled pieces of the TMA were transported to the summit with a fleet of 9 trucks and 12 trailers. Read more about the move in this recent news item, and view photos in the LSST Gallery. 

The L1-L2 lens assembly, which consists of two of the three lenses for the LSST Camera, has arrived at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory after being shipped from Arizona Optical Systems (AOS) in Tucson, AZ. The L1L2  contract was managed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the lens assembly was built by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, and its subcontractor AOS in Tucson. L1, which is 1.57 meters (5.1 feet) in diameter, is believed to be the largest high-performance optical lens ever fabricated. Read the details in this article by LLNL. Photos of the lens assembly arriving at SLAC can be viewed at this link. 

The AURA Management Council for LSST (AMCL) met on September 11-13, 2019, in La Serena, Chile. The AMCL, AURA's oversight and advocacy committee for LSST, meets three times a year. The meeting included a well-received tour of the LSST summit facility construction site on Cerro Pachón; for some members it was their very first visit to the site. Photos from the tour are available in the LSST Gallery. 

On September 19th, at the joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) and the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) Conference, a very well attended LSST splinter session took place, titled, “Getting Ready for LSST: 5+million small bodies, 1+billion observations.” Participants enjoyed presentations on project status, specific solar system science data products, and Solar System Science Collaboration (SSSC) activities as well as synergies with European space missions. Presentations are available here, and photos are available in the LSST Gallery. 

Information for Project Members

Don’t forget, Friday, October 4th is the date to take a photo of something interesting or representative of your work for this year’s “A Day in the Life of LSST Construction” (DITL) video! Click here for details on how to submit your photos. DITL videos from previous years can be viewed at this link. 

Personnel News

Penn State is adding new open-rank faculty positions to build on existing excellence in astrophysics, through a cluster hire with a theme of Data Sciences for application to large astronomical surveys such as LSST. More information about these positions can be found here.

Current job openings with LSST are available on the LSST hiring website. 

Upcoming Meetings with LSST Involvement

(those with asterisk* are LSSTC funded):

2019

September 26-27: Midwest Workshop on Supernovae and Transients, Columbus, OH

September 30-October 4: Managing Follow-up Observations in the Era of ZTF and LSST Workshop, Pasadena, CA*

October 7-9: Untangle the Skein with Scarlet: LSST De-blending Pipeline Application Workshop, Naples, Italy

November 6-8: Kavli Petabytes to Science Data Inclusion Revolution Workshop, Boston, MA

2020

January 4-8: American Astronomical Society (AAS) 235th Meeting, Honolulu, HI

January 22-23: AMCL Meeting, SLAC, CA