Graduate school seminar: Mario Juric - Rubin Observatory: The next giant leap in observational astronomy

Speaker: Mario Juric, University of Washington, USA

Title: Rubin Observatory: The next giant leap in observational astronomy

Abstract

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a new NSF/DOE-funded facility on Cerro Pachón, Chile. It houses the 8.4m Simonyi Survey Telescope and the 3.2 gigapixel LSSTCam camera. Over a ten-year period (expected to start in January 2026) Rubin will execute the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Enabled by its 9.6 square degree field of view and a cadence covering the sky every 3-4 days to ~24.5 mag, the LSST dataset will dramatically advance numerous area of astronomy.

In this talk, I will give an overview on how large surveys like Rubin are transforming astronomy. I will provide an update on Rubin’s commissioning efforts, first data previews, and first discoveries. I will especially focus on initial Solar System-related results, as those data have already been made public (and more are coming soon). More broadly, I will discuss measured performance of the observatory so far, comparison to predictions, and talk through the expectations for early LSST. With a steady stream of alerts expected to begin soon, Rubin will soon become a major resource for time-domain astronomy that the community should prepare for.