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In a report released this morning, "New Worlds and New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics," a prestigious committee convened by the National Research Council for the National Academy of Sciences ranked the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) as its top priority for the next large ground-based astronomical facility. The so-called "Astro2010" report states "The committee recommends that LSST be submitted immediately for NSF's Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction (MREFC) consideration with a view to achieving first light before the end of the decade.

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Here is the current plan for the 3 v 3 from Jeff Kantor: We will use the Kick It 3v3 Rules (attached) with a few modifications due to practical limitations:

Field:

By popular demand, there will be a 3x3 soccer tournament early each morning and a prize to the winning team (details to follow). Pack your cleats! Game times are 6-7am Tuesday - Thursday. Contact Jeff Kantor for more information.

The LSST Board met in Tucson Thursday & Friday, April 8 & 9, 2010, and approved Texas A&M University as the 32nd Institutional Member of LSST Corporation; Nick Suntzeff will serve as their representative.

The LSST Transient Events app was approved by Apple and is now available for download from the App store. Click here to download.

August 4, 2015 - Current information on LSST Science Collaborations can be found here.

Mirror Lab workers load 51,900 pounds of glass into mirror mold.

The University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory is about to cast a new kind of giant optic for a unique wide-field survey telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. The telescope will be the widest, fastest, deepest eye of the new digital age.

 Mirror Lab workers will begin loading 51,900 pounds of glass into the mirror mold early today.

The Mirror Lab will cast two mirrors as a single piece of glass for the telescope, known as the LSST, this month. The lab will cast an outer 27-foot-diameter (8.4 meter) primary mirror and an inner 16.5-foot-diameter (5 meter) third mirror in one mold. It is the first time a combined primary and tertiary mirror will be produced on such a large scale.

The LSST will be the world's largest, most powerful wide-angle survey telescope. It will provide time-lapse digital imaging across the entire available night sky every three days, enabling astronomers anywhere simultaneous access to study supernovae, planet-approaching asteroids or comets and other dynamic celestial chance events, and explore the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

The LSST will open a new window on the variable sky. Recent surveys have shown the power of variability for studying gravitational lensing, searching for supernovae, determining the physical properties of gamma-ray burst sources, etc. The LSST, with its repeated, wide-area coverage to deep limiting magnitudes will enable the discovery and analysis of rare and exotic objects such as neutron star and black hole binaries; gamma-ray bursts and X-ray flashes, at least some of which apparently mark the deaths of massive stars; AGNs and blazars; and very possibly new classes of transients, such as binary mergers and stellar disruptions by black holes. It is likely that the LSST will detect numerous microlensing events in the local group and perhaps beyond.