University of Delaware

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Biden School of Public Policy and Administration

Data  Science Institute

Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time

Deputy Project Scientist, Construction

Acting Head of Science, Operation

federica b. bianco

she/her

Rubin Observatory

Site: Cerro Pachon, Chile

Funding: US NSF + DOE

Building an unprecedented catalog of Solar System Objects

LSST Science Drivers

Building an unprecedented catalog of Solar System Objects

LSST Science Drivers

Mapping the Milky Way and Local Volume

Building an unprecedented catalog of Solar System Objects

LSST Science Drivers

Mapping the Milky Way and Local Volume

Probing Dark Energy and Dark Matter

Building an unprecedented catalog of Solar System Objects

LSST Science Drivers

Mapping the Milky Way and Local Volume

Probing Dark Energy and Dark Matter

Exploring the Transient Optical Sky

To accomplish this, we need:

1) a large telescope mirror to be sensitive - 8m (6.7m)

2) a large field-of-view for sky-scanning speed - 10 deg2

3) high spatial resolution, high quality images - 0.2''/pixels

4) process images in realtime and offline to produce 20TB data every night, 70PB in 10 years

>=18000 sq degrees

~800 visits per field

2 visits per night (within ~30 min for asteroids)

+ 5x10sq deg Deep Drilling Fields with ~8000 visits

Objective: to provide a science-ready dataset to transform the 4 key science area

Rubin LSST survey design

Rubin has involved the community to an unprecedented level in survey design this is a uniquely "democratic" process!

2024

2024

80,000

Current plan: rolling 8 out of the 10 years

The DOE LSST Camera - 3.2 Gigapixel

3024 science raft amplifier channels

Camera and Cryostat integration completed at SLAC in May 2022,

Shutter and filter auto-changer integrated into camera body

LSSTCam undergoing final stages of testing at SLAC

 678 separate images taken in just over seven hours of observing time.  Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light-years away from Earth. | NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Virgo cluster. Visible are two prominent spiral galaxies (lower right), three merging galaxies (upper right), several groups of distant galaxies, many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and more.

June 30, 2025

DP1 release!

First Look

Event

mid 2026

2025

Will we get more data???

17B stars

20 B galaxies

more celestial objects than people on this ever increasingly overpopulated earth

Data Products

Data Products

Text

Proprietary data accessible through the Science Platform

Data right holders: US scientists, Chilean scientists, selected scientists in UK and France

International communities that acquired data right throuhg "in kinds": software, telescope time (N-PIs + 4 team members)

described in ls.st/LDM-612

world public!

10M alerts per night!! anything that changed by >5σ from "how the sky usually looks"

in 60 seconds:

Difference Image Analysis

in 60 seconds:

Difference Image Analysis

Discovery Engine

10M alerts/night

Community Brokers

target observation managers

Pitt-Google

Broker

BABAMUL

the new astronomy discovery chain

LSST Brokers

https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/data-products/alerts-and-brokers

LSST Brokers

https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/data-products/alerts-and-brokers

LSST Brokers

https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/data-products/alerts-and-brokers

LSST Brokers

https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/data-products/alerts-and-brokers

Rubin LSST Transients by the numbers

17B stars (x10) Ivezic+19​

~10 million QSO (x10) Mary Loli+21

~50k Tidal Disruption Events (from ~150) Brickman+ 2020

~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae (from ~200)

~400 strongly lensed SN Ia (from 10) Ardense+24

~50 kilonovae (from 2) Setzer+19, Andreoni+19   (+ ToO)

> 10 Interstellar Objects fom 2....    ?)

Rubin LSST Transients by the numbers

17B stars (x10) Ivezic+19​

~10 million QSO (x10) Mary Loli+21

~50k Tidal Disruption Events (from ~150) Brickman+ 2020

~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae (from ~200)

~400 strongly lensed SN Ia (from 10) Ardense+24

~50 kilonovae (from 2) Setzer+19, Andreoni+19   (+ ToO)

> 10 Interstellar Objects fom 2....    ?)

Rubin LSST Transients by the numbers

17B stars (x10) Ivezic+19​

~10 million QSO (x10) Mary Loli+21

~50k Tidal Disruption Events (from ~150) Brickman+ 2020

~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae (from ~200) Villar+ 2018

~400 strongly lensed SN Ia (from 10) Ardense+24

~50 kilonovae (from 2) Setzer+19, Andreoni+19   (+ ToO)

> 10 Interstellar Objects fom 2....    ?)

Rubin LSST Transients by the numbers

17B stars (x10) Ivezic+19​

~10 million QSO (x10) Mary Loli+21

~50k Tidal Disruption Events (from ~150) Brickman+ 2020

~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae (from ~200) Villar+ 2018

~400 strongly lensed SN Ia (from 10) Ardense+24

~50 kilonovae (from 2) Setzer+19, Andreoni+19   (+ ToO)

> 10 Interstellar Objects fom 2....    ?)

Rubin LSST Transients by the numbers

17B stars (x10) Ivezic+19​

~10 million QSO (x10) Mary Loli+21

~50k Tidal Disruption Events (from ~150) Brickman+ 2020

~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae (from ~200) Villar+ 2018

~400 strongly lensed SN Ia (from 10) Ardense+24

~50 kilonovae (from 2) Setzer+19, Andreoni+19   (+ ToO)

> 10 Interstellar Objects fom 2....    ?)

SKA

(2025)

17B stars (x10) Ivezic+19​

~10 million QSO (x10) Mary Loli+21

~50k Tidal Disruption Events (from ~150) Brickman+ 2020

~10k SuperLuminous Supernovae (from ~200) Villar+ 2018

~400 strongly lensed SN Ia (from 10) Ardense+24

~50 kilonovae (from 2) Setzer+19, Andreoni+19   (+ ToO)

> 10 Interstellar Objects fom 2....    ?)

True Novelties!

Rubin LSST Transients by the numbers

Rubin ToO program

Rubin ToO program

Rubin ToO program

A community of practice funded on principles of Equity, Inclusivity, Cooperation

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

8 teams

>2000 members

>2500 affiliations

5 continents

An international community of practice built on principles of cooperation, equity, and solidarity

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

Text

https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.04499 

https://lsst-tvssc.github.io/

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

Rubin LSST Science Collaborations

Shar Daniels

NSF Graduate Student Fellow

University of Delaware

TVS Science Collaboration

 Fast Transient Subgroup