Announcements 2023

19 December 2023: Project and Science News The end of 2023 is nearly upon us, another year has flown by with significant progress towards our goal to complete Rubin Observatory and launch the Legacy Survey of Space and Time! We wish you happy holidays and we hope you enjoy Rubin’s 2023 holiday card. Save the date: The Rubin Community Workshop is being planned for the week of July 22-26, 2024 at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. This meeting will have an emphasis on Rubin LSST science and the needs of the community, which is a shift in focus compared to the Project and Community Workshops (PCWs) of the previous years, though there will still be project updates and opportunities to interact with project staff. More information will be distributed soon. Members of the Rubin team are preparing for the American Astronomical Society (AAS) winter meeting (AAS#243) in New Orleans on January 7-11. The Rubin …

13 December 2023: Paul Palma from Alianza Austral School in Coyhaique has won the 2023 AURA Padre Picetti Prize, an annual initiative started in 2014 by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) that seeks to recognize leading teachers in Chile who demonstrate a special dedication towards astronomy and encouraging new generations of scientists. In addition to a commemorative award, Palma was presented with an 8-inch dobsonian telescope and a visit to Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, where he toured the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope. The award ceremony took place at the AURA Recinto Office in La Serena and was led by the Vice-President and Head of Mission of AURA in Chile, Alejandra Voigt. Additionally, Claudia Tello and Angelo Leita, the principal and vice-principal of Seminario Conciliar School in La Serena where father Juan Bautista Picetti, the inspiration behind this prize, once worked, also participated …

8 December 2023: For the first time since 2017, the US Ambassador to Chile has visited Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, and Cerro Pachón to see first-hand the telescopes devoted to astronomical research in the Coquimbo Region. Accompanied by AURA’s Director in Chile Alejandra Voigt and NOIRLab staff, Ambassador Bernadette Meehan toured several of AURA’s facilities, including part of the International Gemini Observatory, the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope and Vera C. Rubin Observatory, currently under construction at Cerro Pachón. This visit took place as a part of the celebration of 200 years of official relations between Chile and the US. The work that AURA’s facilities conduct, with backing from the National Science Foundation, is an example of the extensive history of collaboration between the two countries. At Cerro Pachón Meehan learned about the progress of the Rubin Observatory project and saw the structure of the telescope, which …

5 December 2023: The International Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, and AURA are pleased to announce that Macquarie University's Australian Astronomical Optics (AAO) team has been selected, on behalf of the National Science Foundation, to continue the development, construction and installation of the Gemini North telescope’s Adaptive Optics Bench (AOB) [1]. The AOB serves as a sub-component of the larger Gemini North Adaptive Optics (GNAO) facility that will make Gemini North the premier site for high-resolution astronomy for the Gemini International partnership, including the US community. The GNAO project recently completed a one-year competitive design phase for the AOB sub-component. Three teams developed independent conceptual designs for the AOB and each proposed a path toward the final design, build and installation at the telescope. Of the three teams, Macquarie University's AAO team was selected. The AOB project is an Australian-French consortium led by Macquarie University's AAO team, in collaboration with the …

5 December 2023: Project and Science News The third Rubin science release, “Rubin Observatory Will Unlock Fossil Record of Galaxy Cluster Evolution,” is now available on rubinobservatory.org. Please share this story with your networks to help generate excitement about Rubin science. A meeting of the AURA Management Council for Rubin Observatory (AMCR) took place in La Serena, Chile, on November 29th - December 1st. In addition to construction progress updates and a discussion about developing First Light celebration plans, the Council enjoyed a tour of the Rubin summit facility. The last time this group toured the site was in September 2019, so there was lots of progress to show. Photos from the summit tour are available in the Gallery. Rubin Observatory hosted a summit visit from Bernadette M. Meehan, US Ambassador to the Republic of Chile, on December 1. After Ambassador Meehan toured the observatory and spoke with members of the Rubin team, …

28 November 2023: Student winners of the 2023 The Dark Side of Light art competition featuring light pollution motifs have been awarded their prizes at a special ceremony at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The competition was organized by the Coquimbo Region’s Ministerial Secretariat for the Environment and sponsored by AURA and the Northern Chile Quality of the Sky Protection Office (OPCC, by its initials in Spanish). The contest was open to all students from 5th to 8th grade at all educational establishments located in the Coquimbo Region. Its objective was to inform the students about light pollution and motivate them to take care of the night skies, especially those in the region which are particularly valuable for global astronomy. The 1st place prize went to 12-year-old Marcela Narváez, from Patricio Lynch School in the city of Andacollo, for her piece entitled Difference Between Skies. Second place went …

21 November 2023: On 31 October NOIRLab and AURA held an hour and a half virtual cultural exchange between students in Vicuña (Chile) and in Hilo (Hawai‘i, US), the nearest towns to the twin telescopes of the International Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. 'Brother of the Stars' connected students at two schools, near Gemini North in Hawai‘i and Gemini South in Chile. The goal was for the students to share their stories of their relationship with the skies and what life is like living in each location. Around 20 middle-school students from Edmundo Vidal Cárdenas School in Vicuña and from Kamehameha Schools in Hawai‘i came together to discuss what it is like to live in their respective communities. The students talked about what they enjoy doing in their free time and what sports they enjoy playing, and exchanged some words in their respective languages. They also shared each location’s traditions and …

15 November 2023: Project and Science News November is Native American Heritage Month, and LGBTQ + STEM day is coming up on November 18th. Rubin celebrates the contributions of all our diverse staff and community members! Contact our Workplace Culture Advocate team if you’d like assistance connecting with resources and allies in the Rubin community, or if you have suggestions for how to make Rubin more inclusive. On the summit, the Rubin Commissioning Camera (ComCam) was reinstalled on the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) on November 3rd, using the newly-repaired dome crane ComCam had been removed in early August to allow the installation of the M2 cell and surrogate mirror and some additional electronics packaging upgrades for better in-situ maintenance. The recent re-installation (photos here) went about twice as quickly as the initial task, now that the team has its procedures well-established, and they worked extremely well together to achieve a precise and safe …

31 October 2023: Project and Science News October 31st is Dark Matter Day, a globally recognized day to celebrate dark matter research and discovery. In case you missed it, Rubin recently published this science release about Rubin’s forthcoming contribution to the study of dark matter and dark energy. Plans are underway for the Rubin Observatory presence at the American Astronomical Society meeting (AAS243) in New Orleans, January 7-11, 2024. Rubin will host a mid-day Town Hall on Thursday, January 11th, and staff an exhibit booth throughout the meeting. If you’ll be attending the meeting, stop by the booth for a chance to win some limited-edition swag! We’re excited to learn that Vera C. Rubin is one of five notable American women who will be featured in the 2025 American Women Quarters™ Program. Quarters honoring these women will be manufactured by the Mint facilities at Philadelphia and Denver and circulated in 2025. Read more …

30 October 2023: On 18 October 2023 Chile issued a new lighting standard to protect the country’s clear, dark skies, which are valued by a large selection of the world’s astronomical infrastructure, including NSF NOIRLab. Established by the Chilean Ministry of the Environment, this new standard expands on the existing decree that was established in 2012 with the objective of preserving the astronomical quality of the night skies in the Regions of Antofagasta, Atacama, and Coquimbo. The new Norma Luminica, formally titled Supreme Decree No. 1 of 2022, is a revision of Supreme Decree No. 43 of 2012 that expands the scope of regulations on light-emitting sources to the entire country of Chile. And not only does it protect the night skies for astronomical observations, but it also incorporates the protection of biodiversity and human health as environmental objectives. The new Norma Luminica includes regulations on the brightness of industrial lighting, placing limits …

25 October 2023: More than 2,500 students and 115 teachers participated in the activities of Viaje al Universo 2023, which took place from October 16 and 20 in La Serena and Coquimbo in Chile. Viaje is one of NSF NOIRLab’s core educational programs, whose main goal is to bring astronomers, scientists, engineers and the staff of our observatories into the local classrooms. This year’s program included 37 activities implemented in 5 schools. All the activities of Viaje are aligned with the Chilean educational curriculum in order to provide a tangible contribution to the teaching and learning of science, physics and astronomy in Chile. Teachers and students were excited by all of the engaging activities, which included workshops, science talks and a portable planetarium from the Giant Magellan Telescope, and a solar telescope to experience a real time observation of the closest star, the Sun. These activities were led by NOIRLab education and engagement …

19 October 2023: Following a workshop organized by NSF’s NOIRLab at Vandenberg Space Force Base, a new report has been released describing the complex relationship between astronomical observatories, constellation satellite operators, NASA, the US Space Command and the US Air Force. With the proliferation of commercial satellites, the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce is also likely to be taking an increasingly important role. The report calls for US astronomical lasers, including those operated by NOIRLab, to be considered for reclassification at a lower risk level under the Laser Deconfliction policy that protects satellites from being ‘blinded’ by lasers. The proposal is supported by the International Astronomical Union Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS). Plans from several companies around the world will potentially grow the number of constellation satellites to several hundred thousand if all internationally notified systems [1] are brought …

18 October 2023: Together with the other Maunakea Observatories (MKOs), the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF's NOIRLab, celebrated AstroDay Kona with families and friends of all ages on Saturday 7 October 2023. A free event held outdoors at the Kona Commons Shopping Center in Kailua-Kona, AstroDay Kona provided an estimated 400 visitors with the opportunity to learn about the Universe and the spectacular discoveries made by Gemini and the other telescopes on Maunakea. Like the Annual AstroDay in Hilo each May, this event is led by the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy. To share the wonders of the cosmos that inspire astronomy research, observatory staff presented the community with special science demonstrations and activities, informative exhibitions, including dozens of free images, the NOIRLab virtual tour and an infrared camera demonstration. “This event is a great opportunity for us to reach the public across Hawai‘i Island and broaden our geographical reach significantly,” …

17 October 2023: Project and Science News Rubin Construction management staff gathered for a workshop on October 4th to discuss the schedule impact of recent challenges concerning the Camera and the integration of components on the summit. A detailed announcement from Project leadership is available on community.lsst.org, and an updated version of RTN-011 – Early Science will be issued shortly. The second Rubin science release, “Rubin Observatory will Help Unravel Mysteries of Dark Matter & Dark Energy,” is now available on rubinobservatory.org. We encourage you to share this story with your networks to help us generate excitement about Rubin science. The summit team continues to stay busy and productive while the overhead dome crane, which failed in September, is being repaired. Recent activities include installing the rack-and-pinion permanent dome rotation system, fixing oil leaks and improving the pipe fittings for the TMA azimuth braking system, and completing a straightforward but time-consuming repair project …

6 October 2023: Yesterday 5 October 2023 the President of Chile Gabriel Boric visited the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) to meet with management and to reaffirm Chile's commitment to astronomy, and the protection of dark skies. The President was accompanied by Minister for the Environment Maisa Rojas and Aisén Etcheverry, Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation. While touring the inside of the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope enclosure they were briefed about the history of the AURA Observatory in Chile and the continued discoveries at CTIO done by the science community in Chile, US and beyond. The group saw Cerro Pachón in the distance, the location of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Gemini South of the International Gemini Observatory and the SOAR Telescope, and talked about the ongoing cutting-edge research at all of our flagship facilities and the new windows that will be open by Rubin. The dignitaries were greeted by …

2 October 2023: The United States Extremely Large Telescope Program (US-ELTP) today announced it has received $15.3 million from the National Science Foundation to support further design and development of advanced optical technologies and user services. The funding consists of one-year awards of $2.3 million to NSF’s NOIRLab managed by AURA, and $6.5 million each to the organizations building the Giant Magellan Telescope and the Thirty Meter Telescope. The NSF awards come after the US-ELTP was ranked as the highest ground-based priority in the Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020, published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The survey emphasized that the US-ELTP “capabilities can be brought to bear on nearly all of the important science questions laid out by this decadal survey, across all three of our key science themes.” The US-ELTP would enable unmatched observations from ultraviolet to mid-infrared wavelengths with up to 200 times the sensitivity …

2 October 2023: Scientists, including astronomers from the International Astronomical Union Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU CPS), have published a paper in Nature assessing the detailed impact of the BlueWalker 3 satellite on astronomy. Building on initial observations from shortly after its launch, these new results complement the initial understanding of this unusual satellite and the paper contains details of how the satellite’s brightness changes over time and the visibility of jettisoned hardware. With companies intending to deploy more commercial satellites in the coming years, this paper highlights the need for pre-launch impact assessments. “The interference of satellites in astronomy has become an increasingly pressing issue over the last few years,” commented first author Sangeetha Nandakumar from the Instituto de Astronomía y Ciencias Planetarias, Universidad de Atacama Chile. BlueWalker 3 was launched into low Earth orbit on 10 September 2022 by AST SpaceMobile …

29 September 2023: Gemini North and Gemini South telescopes (the twin telescopes forming the International Gemini Observatory) are now back on sky following the 1 August cybersecurity incident at NSF’s NOIRLab, and are currently collecting science data. Restoration of remote access for external astronomers is ongoing, and we anticipate that it will be restored over the coming weeks. The observations at Gemini South involved the instrument Flamingos-2 and those at Gemini North involved GMOS, GNIRS and NIRI. The Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope on Cerro Tololo and SOAR Telescope on Cerro Pachón in Chile continue to take science data in restricted operating modes. Full operations, including remote access, are expected to be restored once all cybersecurity conditions are met. Other telescopes are operational with onsite observers, and most smaller telescope facilities have been restored to normal operations. The telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory were not affected by the incident. As previously posted, …

26 September 2023: Project and Science News September has been a busy month for VIP visits to the summit. Rubin Construction and Operations leadership hosted a group from the National Science Foundation (NSF) on September 13-14 (photo here). The previous week, the Mayor of Vicuña toured the summit site along with VIP attendees of the first World Astro-tourism Summit (held September 6-9 in Vicuña). Several more groups are scheduled to visit the observatory in October. The Rubin Auxiliary Telescope (AuxTel) was recently outfitted with several new hardware components, which the AuxTel team has been testing in observing runs. One component is a mask for spectroscopy, which helps limit sky background and the impact of field stars in the spectrum, making analysis easier and more precise. Another addition is a specific device for flat-fielding for spectroscopy, and a third is a new hologram which is almost identical to the one currently in use — …

7 September 2023: Project and Science News This year’s NSF/DOE Joint Status Review (JSR) for Rubin Construction took place August 22-25 in Tucson, AZ. Rubin leadership and team leads gave presentations summarizing current and remaining work on various aspects of Rubin, and participated in detailed discussions with review committee members in subsequent breakout sessions. The official report containing the review committee’s recommendations will be delivered to Rubin leadership in the coming weeks. A photo from the review is available in the Gallery. The Survey Scheduling Team announces the release of a new OpSim output, “baseline_v3.2_10yrs.db,” which illustrates the baseline v3.2 survey strategy for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The v3.2 survey strategy is an evolution of the v3.0 survey strategy recommendations from the Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC). Learn more on community.lsst.org. Major integrations on the summit continued with the installation of the secondary mirror (M2) cell and surrogate mirror …