Notices by Rubin Observatory (vrubinobs@astrodon.social)

We can't wait to see everyone at #AAS245!

Next week is the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society — the largest gathering of astronomers in the US. We're gearing up for some exciting talks and sessions that'll preview the incredible science coming later this year once Rubin comes online!

🛻 Our 8.4-meter mirror moved in

📷 LSST Camera was completed @SLACLab

🪞 Our 8.4-meter mirror finally became a mirror

📷 LSST Camera arrived!

🏗️ The 3.5-meter secondary mirror was installed

📷 The engineering test camera was installed

✅ The 8.4-meter primary/tertiary mirror was installed—and we officially had a complete telescope!

🏅 The Simonyi Survey Telescope was formally dedicated in honor of the Simonyi family

🤳 The team took a group selfie using the engineering camera — the first time light went through the complete telescope and hit a camera detector!

🔭 The team did important testing and troubleshooting with the engineering camera

We're grateful for the many people working to make this amazing observatory a reality ✨

2025 is the final year of construction for Rubin — by this time next year, we'll be in the midst of our quest to #CaptureTheCosmos 🤩

@noirlabastro @slaclab @auradc @nsfgov @doescience

What a year! 🥳

We had some big moves and even bigger accomplishments this year at Rubin Observatory as we get ever closer to the end of construction!

Check out our incredible year in review 👇 🧵

✍️ Rubin #CommissioningNotes, entry 5️⃣: we’re making gains💪

Efficiency has been the name of the game for the past two weeks! As our team addresses the causes of data-taking interruptions, fewer interruptions occur—meaning even more data overall📈

=== Highlights ===

🌌 Our team consistently increased the number of visits captured each night. In fact, they got a record of nearly 100 in-focus visits in a single night last week using the automated software that drives Rubin’s telescope, called the Feature Based Scheduler.

The nightly average number of visits doubled overall this week, for a few reasons:
💪 Continued efficiency gains with fewer interruptions (and faster recoveries)
⏳ Less time overall between visits thanks to optimizations of the telescope control software
💨 Increasing telescope speed

===

There’s only one more week left in this testing period with Rubin’s engineering camera, ComCam! Will the team set a new record? 🤔

For more details from the past two weeks:
🔗 #1: https://community.lsst.org/t/2024-11-29-on-sky-commissioning-update/9604
🔗 #2: https://community.lsst.org/t/2024-12-06-on-sky-commissioning-update/9623

It's probably a surprise to no one, but telescopes have a lot of reflective surfaces just begging for selfies! 🤳

This #SelfieSunday, take a browse through some of our recent favorites from our #RubinTeam 📸

About these selfies:
1: The CNRS-IN2P3 filter team in an LSST Camera filter
2: Selfie in the 144-megapixel detector of the Rubin Commissioning Camera
3: LSST Camera Team's Travis Lange in a camera filter
4: Rubin staff in the telescope's secondary mirror

We're #hiring!

Want to join the cutting edge of astronomy and astrophysics? We have openings for #developers on our Education & Public Outreach team, #observing specialists in Chile, and more!

💻 Junior full stack developer (EPO): https://ow.ly/KjmF50TZI5y
💻 Senior backend web developer (EPO): https://ow.ly/SCgI50TZI5E
🔭 Observing specialists - early, mid, or late career: https://ow.ly/MSNw50TZI5w
📈 System performance postdoc: https://ow.ly/k4I950TZI5z

There's snow place like Rubin Observatory ✨❄️🔭

It's the height of winter in Chile, but it's snow big deal! Our teams on the mountain have things under control. This weekend's snowfall is the third so far of the season—and the views just don't get cold! ...er, old!

We officially have glass on the telescope! 🤩

Last week, Rubin Observatory staff safely installed the 3.5-meter secondary mirror—the first glass to be installed on the telescope! 🥳

Until now, testing the telescope was done using steel "surrogate" masses. But finally, it's time to put the telescope together for real🤩

With the first glass installed, we're in the final stretch of construction and on track to #CaptureTheCosmos in 2025!

🔗: https://rubinobservatory.org/news/secondary-mirror-installed

Hello #Astrodon world! We are Rubin Observatory, a new up-and-coming ground-based observatory currently under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile.

Looking forward to sharing all the incredible engineering, science, and people of our observatory with all of you here!

#introduction #astronomy