Cygnus Lecture Series: Aileen O'Donoghue: The Large Survey of Space and Time (LSST)

The Large Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Vera Rubin Observatory

Aileen O'Donoghue—ASC&O Board Member, St. Lawrence University

On the 8,800 foot peak of Cerro Pachón in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has begun it’s ten-year mission to observe the southern sky. The unique, specially designed 3,000 megapixel camera sensor array will conduct a wide-field survey of the universe that will be deeper and wider than all previous surveys combined. Unlike other telescopes, Rubin’s telescope will not target specific objects, but will survey the sky in a predetermined cadence of observations at different sky positions in a varying pattern of order, duration, and filters. In this way, it will obtain images applicable to different scientific questions from finding slow-moving asteroids near Earth to characterizing distant galaxies and quasars forming near the beginning of time. The repetition of observations over ten years will allow astronomers to spot changes in appearance and behavior of objects too slow to be detected by traditional observatories.

Free registration required: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/C9RVGxq_QhSF2TcU2sIMHg#/registration

You may also like the following events from Adirondack Sky Center and Observatory:

• Next Tuesday, 7th October, 07:00 pm, Cygnus Lecture Series: Jeffrey Miller: Blinded by Science in Tupper Lake
• Next month, 4th November, 07:00 pm, Cygnus Lecture Series: Simon Thill: Cosmic Waves in Tupper Lake
• This December, 2nd December, 07:00 pm, Cygnus Lecture Series: Bruce Berger: Getting Started in NightScape Photography in Tupper Lake

Also check out other Meetups in Tupper Lake.