Blogs

Dear Colleagues:

I am delighted to announce that Professor Zeljko Ivezic of the University of Washington has agreed to take on the role of Deputy Director of the LSST Construction Project, effective September 1, 2018.

September 4, 2018 - The LSST 2018 Project and Community Workshop, held in Tucson August 13-17, provided a valuable opportunity for face-to-face interactions between geographically distributed LSST project team members and participants from the LSST science community. This year’s annual gathering boasted the highest registration to date, with more than 300 people attending the meeting. Photos from the event are available in the LSST Gallery.

August 9 - Imagine you’re driving a ridiculously expensive sports car, and you have to park it in a space so tight there’s only an inch of clearance between you and the cars on either side, which, incidentally, are also ridiculously expensive sports cars. Feel the pressure? The Integration and Testing (I&T) Group at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory know this pressure well; they’re currently facing a comparable challenge as they work to integrate the 21 science rafts and the four corner rafts into the LSST Camera cryostat grid.

July 16, 2018 - In Paris, France, the Filter-Exchange team is currently performing combined testing of the prototype filter exchange components at the Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE). The filter exchange is the result of the collaborative work of five French IN2P3/CNRS laboratories.

Dear Colleagues:

I would like to call the attention of our more junior colleagues to the opportunity to provide input to the Astro2020 Decadal Survey process, described at the following link:

https://aas.org/posts/news/2018/06/early-career-astronomer-and-astrophys...

The deadline for applying for this opportunity is July 16.

As you know, the number one ranking that LSST received in the last decadal survey was crucial to our Project getting approved by both NSF and DOE. Your experience working on LSST will probably be of interest to the Astro2020 committee, and I believe they will be responsive to any comments you may have. I encourage you to apply.

Regards,
Steve Kahn

July 2, 2018 – LSST@Europe3 drew approximately 150 participants to Lyon, France on June 11-15 for presentations, tours, and informal opportunities for networking between members of the LSST Project and the European science community. Zeljko Ivezic, LSST Project Scientist and co-chair of the meeting’s Scientific Organizing Committee, enthusiastically noted the high level of participation from younger scientists at this meeting, an indication that excitement for LSST is building among those just beginning their science careers.