The following series of introductory presentations about Rubin Observatory and its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) were assembled for the LSST Solar System Readiness (Virtual) Sprint on June 7-9th 2022, but anyone might find this collection useful.
I’ll be monitoring mentions and direct messages in the “SSSC Sprint” Slack space over June 6-9 2022, and also replies in this topic thread – please feel free to ask me anything! If I don’t know the answer I will try to find out.
The Planned LSST Data Products
I think the best starting point for anyone is “The Rubin Data Products, Abridged”, a webpage and recorded talk that supplies a brief, informal summary of the planned Rubin Observatory data products and analysis tools, and outlines the boundary between what Rubin Observatory will provide and what will be left to the expertise of the science community. If you want to dig a little deeper into the planned LSST data products, try the recorded presentations “Introduction to LSST Prompt Data Products for Time Domain Astronomy” or “Introduction to LSST Data Releases and User Generated Data Products”, or read more in the LSST Data Products Definitions Document.
Accessing and Analyzing LSST Data Products
In this 16 minute video on “The Rubin Science Platform User Experience”, I describe how the Rubin Science Platform user experience is being designed to meet the goal of democratizing “big science” in the LSST era. This presentation includes a brief demo of the Portal and Notebook aspects, and the related documentation and user support resources. Find more documentation about the Rubin Science Platform and the LSST Science Pipelines at data.lsst.cloud/docs.
A Talk for New Graduate Students
This talk, “For the Incoming Grad Cohort of 2022: Survey Science with Rubin Observatory”, describes how the timeline for the commissioning and start of survey operations with the Rubin Observatory align with graduate careers that are starting in 2022. I originally made it for the visiting prospective graduate students at the University of Washington.
Survey Strategy & Cadence Optimization
The recorded presentation “Introduction to LSST Survey Cadence Optimization (January 2022)” provides a high-level overview of the terminology and ongoing efforts to select a survey strategy for the LSST. More information about the survey design is available at lsst.org/scientists/survey-design.
Rubin Community Forum
In this excerpt from a longer seminar, I provide a brief tour of the Rubin Community Forum (Community.lsst.org). Over the next few years, the Rubin science community will grow to thousands of users, and the Community Forum will be the open platform for mutual support between LSST users of all expertise levels, and for Q&A between users and Rubin staff. All are welcome and encouraged to make accounts in the Community Forum, to engage in discussions, and to post questions.
Further Resources
Information about Rubin Observatory and the LSST that is relevant to scientists and students is currently housed at lsst.org/scientists, and many more recorded talks are available in the Rubin Observatory YouTube channel. Consider joining us in-person at the Rubin Project & Community Workshop in Tucson AZ, Aug 8-12 2022 (or register online for free to engage in the virtual participation options).
