Blogs

October 20, 2016 – The first LSST hardware integration between vendors took place today on Cerro Pachón, a major milestone! This image shows the lowering of a steel base plate for the dome azimuth track (from EIE in Italy) atop the concrete wall of the lower enclosure (from Besalco in Chile). This  plate, the first of 16, weighs about one and a half tons and is lifted by crane over 50 feet in the air for installation. The plates and their anchor bolts will be installed and precisely aligned/level and then left for a curing period of 90 days. After that 3-month curing of the concrete, EIE will return to more precisely level and install grout under the base plates, which will provide the foundation for the continued integration of the dome azimuth track system. 

October 14, 2016 - University of Washington hosted a meeting of the managers of Data Management software teams last week. The group focused on finalizing definitions of work packages and cost estimation needed for the upcoming baseline change request related to the DM replan.  Shown in the picture, with their “special” cake baked by LSST Project Scientist Zeljko Ivezic, are (L-R front row) S. Krughoff, X. Wu, and J. Becla. Behind them (L-R) are F. Economou, Fritz Mueller, K.T. Lim, J. Swinbank, and LSST Project Controls Specialist K. Long. 

October 8, 2016 - This LSST poster was recently updated to support the 2016 "White House Astronomy Night" hosted by the University of Pittsburgh next week at their Allegheny Observatory. This event was inspired by the 2015 White House Astronomy Night held on the South Lawn, which included an evening of stargazing. The poster, created by graphic designer Emily Acosta, is being made available in three sizes for downloading.

September 30, 2016 - Several members of the Telescope & Site and Systems Engineering groups were in Madrid, Spain this week for the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA) Test Verification Review.  This review of the verification plans for the TMA include a project milestone:  the first “official” integration of a vendor subsystem with the LSST visit-simulator controls software, the software that instructs the telescope to move to a new location on the sky.  This image is a screen shot documenting a standard visit sequence of moving the dome, adjusting the hexapod / actuator assembly, fixing on the guide star and then completing the exposure sequence.  The Operations Simulator, OpSim, wa

September 16, 2016 - LSST Simulation Scientist Andy Connolly is one of four speakers featured on the TED Radio Hour broadcast September 9, 2016.  The topic is the Big Data Revolution, and speakers explore how Big Data will reshape our world from different perspectives.  Andy draws from his March 2014 TED Talk (with more than 1.2 million views) and talks with NPR host Guy Raz about recent LSST developments and “What Data Will be Discovered by the World’s Most Powerful Telescope”.   

September 9, 2016 – Now that the M1M3 mirror cell has been welded and stress relieved, the initial machining of the M1M3 cell weldment has begun at CAID Industries in Tucson.  This short video shows the machining of the +4000 interface holes and precision interfaces between the cell and the glass mirror and the cell and the coating chamber.  The flange ring getting machined in the video is the circular “ridge” shown in the first image.  

August 26, 2016 - There are several sets of simulated surveys produced using the Operations Simulator (OpSim) which are available to the LSST Project and to the scientific community.  A new OpSim Reference Simulated Survey, minion_1016, has been approved and placed under change control.  This Reference Run replaces opsim3.61 and is an updated demonstration of the primary capabilities of the OpSim v3.3.5 codebase.  A Reference Simulated Survey (or Reference Run) is a technical designation and is a demonstration of the primary capabilities of the OpSim v3.3.5 codebase.

August 12, 2016 – Cosmologist Risa Wechsler explains how LSST will contribute to our understanding of dark matter and dark energy in this three-minute video and twitter conversation presented as part of the #AskSymmetry video series.

LSST Construction by jsebag on Sketchfab

July 29, 2016 - This model is our first attempt at using the measurements taken on site in February 2016 with a DJI phantom 3 pro drone to create a 3D map of the LSST summit construction on Cerro Pachón (Chile). This is a first step towards capturing the progress of the construction in 3D.  The drone is programmed to fly prescribed circuits around the summit to cover the site at different angles. The time required to complete a circuit is variable between 15 and 30min depending on the area to cover and the battery lifetime. 

July 21, 2016 - PFlow Industries performed a successful setup and test on July 18th of their platform lift, which will be installed in the summit facility to transport the LSST mirrors and camera. The lift platform is pictured with the test load of approximately 140,000 lbs of concrete blocks. As witnessed by Bill Gressler, Jeff Barr, Freddy Muñoz and the PFlow engineering team, the lift functioned smoothly and flawlessly under load and was also tested for safety interlocks and response to fault conditions. The entire lift assembly will now be disassembled, painted, and packed for shipment to the construction site - anticipated to arrive in October and begin its installation in November.