Call for Nominations for the Rubin Target of Opportunity Advisory Board
Vera C. Rubin Observatory is soliciting nominations for individuals to serve on the Rubin Target of Opportunity Advisory Board, to start in late October or early November 2025. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) has long planned to spend up to approximately 3% of its observing time on follow-up of Targets of Opportunity (ToOs). Initially, the selected targets will be events triggered by gravitational wave sources from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA array, neutrino events from IceCUBE, and candidate potentially hazardous asteroids revealed by the JPL Scout system, although the scope of the program will be regularly reviewed with the potential to expand to other classes of targets or triggering facilities. For context, please see the report of a 2024 workshop exploring the science case for Rubin ToO’s.
The Rubin ToO Advisory Board (hereafter, the Board) would be charged with giving advice on various aspects of the ToO process during Rubin Operations. The Board will work directly with the Rubin ToO Observer (RTO), a 24/7/365 role responsible for managing triggers of ToO’s at the observatory. The RTO will be responsible for making trigger decisions in real time.
While the triggering of ToO observations with Rubin Observatory will largely be by automated algorithms, the Board will give input to the process on three timescales:
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Short (<24 hours). When a set of ToO observations is automatically triggered, all members of the Board would be immediately informed. They would be invited to review the automatically planned set of observations, and advise the RTO on modifications, or even cancellations of the Rubin follow-up, e.g., as the properties of the trigger event become clearer. They could also recommend that an event that falls below the threshold for follow-up observations is sufficiently promising to carry out Rubin observations.
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Medium (days-weeks). Following any set of ToO-triggered Rubin observations, the Board will carry out a review to find out whether the observations were successful, and give feedback to the RTO and the observatory about the process. They will also review any events from LVK, IceCube or otherwise that didn’t trigger Rubin follow-up, and ask whether perhaps the trigger criteria should be expanded. In both cases, the triggering algorithms and follow-up strategy could be modified.
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Long (months-years). In coordination with the Rubin Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC), the Board would recommend changes to the ToO trigger criteria and follow-up strategy, as well as consider expansions of the scope of the program (such as including other science cases or triggers from other facilities) as scientific opportunities change and experience with the ToO process develops.
The committee will be made up of roughly nine experts in:
- Time domain astronomy and solar system science, including both scientific and technical aspects of each field;
- Gravitational wave events and their electromagnetic counterparts;
- Neutrino events and their electromagnetic counterparts;
- Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
The Board should include representatives from the Chilean, UK, and French communities (nominations are accepted from other countries as well).
Board members would serve for a two-year term, renewable once. Half of the first cohort of members will end the term after the second year, with the other half extending their term for a second two-year term, to ensure continuity on the Board thereafter. The Board would name its own Chair from among its members.
Nominations (including self-nominations) are due by the end of the day, August 31, 2025 by filling out a google form. The form asks for:
- Name of nominee, e-mail, institution, and career stage
- A brief (1-3 page) CV of nominee in PDF format
- 1-3 paragraphs describing the relevant expertise of the nominee.
- If this is not a self-nomination, a brief cover letter naming the nominator and explaining whether the nominee is aware that they are being nominated.
Nominations will be reviewed by the Rubin Science Advisory Committee, which will make a recommendation for the makeup of the Board to the Rubin leadership. The Board will initiate its work in late October/early November, roughly the timescale of the start of the 10-year LSST.
Questions should be directed to Michael Strauss, Chair of the Science Advisory Committee, at strauss@astro.princeton.edu .