Speaker: Keith Bechtol
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Title: Vera C. Rubin Observatory On-sky Commissioning
Abstract: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is poised to begin a wide, fast, and deep imaging survey of the entire night sky visible from Chile’s Atacama desert with the goal of measuring more stars, galaxies, optical transients, and Solar System objects during its first year of science operations in 2025-2026 than all previous cosmic surveys combined. In October-December 2024, Rubin Observatory conducted a 7-week on-sky commissioning campaign using an engineering camera as a first full-system test of hardware, software, and operational procedures. The next months are focused on installation and first night sky images with the full LSST Camera. I will discuss the pathway from commissioning to realizing first cosmology results with Rubin Observatory, and highlight ways for our local UW-Madison astrophysics community to get involved with Rubin Observatory science.
Tea and cookies start at 3:15 PM. Zoom option available here.