CAASTRO-LSSTC-AAO Collaboration

Dec 1, 2015

An Opportunity to Participate in LSST

The LSST is a new kind of telescope. Currently under construction in Chile, the LSST is designed to conduct a ten-year survey of the dynamic universe.
In its first month of operation, the LSST will see more of the Universe than all previous telescopes combined. Its rapid-fire, 3-billion pixel digital camera will open a movie-like window on objects that change or move; its superb images will enable mapping the cosmos in 3D as never before. Surveying the entire sky every few days, LSST will provide data in real time to both astronomers and the public.

CAASTRO has signed an MOU with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Corporation (LSSTC) to enable participation by specified Principal Investigator (PI) scientists from each of the Participating Institutions in the scientific exploitation of data and data products produced by LSST before and during its operations phase.  CAASTRO has joined in collaboration with the AAO to offer this participation to the Australian Astronomy community.

Every year the MOU signed with LSSTC allows us to change the schedule of principle investigators.  The current list of PIs is show below:

  • Karl Glazebrook, Swinburne
  • Matthew Colless, ANU
  • Tara Murphy, Univ Sydney
  • Rachel Webster, Univ Melbourne
  • Lister Staveley-Smith, ICRAR UWA
  • Sarah Brough, AAO
  • Chris Tinney, UNSW
  • Miroslav Filipovic, UWS/WSU
  • Duncan Galloway, Monash
  • Dan Zucker, MQ

Each organisation will be required to source $200,000 for the LSSTC for each Principle Investigator and these funds will be designated for the support of LSST operations.

During the LSST construction phase each identified Principle Investigators will be entitled to:

  1. have full access to LSST simulated data and to data products produced through processing of the simulated data;
  2. attend at their own expense LSST meetings open to U.S. and Chilean scientists who are directly participating in the LSST project.

During LSST operations, each identified Principal Investigator shall:

  1. have full access to LSST image data, daily release catalogues, and annual data release catalogues, equivalent to U.S. and Chilean scientists;
  2. have access to LSST-operated Data Access Centres equivalent to what is provided to U.S. and Chilean scientists, with the same privileges and responsibilities conferred, with the proviso that Sydney, as Administering Organisation of either the Current ARC Centre or the New ARC Centre will be responsible for the incremental costs associated with accessing the data; and
  3. have access to products prepared for Education and Public Outreach activities.

If you are interested in becoming a Principle Investigator, please contact Kate Gunn for further information – kate.gunn@sydney.edu.au

Meeting Calendar

November 19-21, 2015 – Towards Science in Chile with LSST*, La Serena, Chile

December 14-15, 2015 – Foreground Physical Effects on Weak Lensing Science*, UC Davis

January 7, 2016 – LSST Town Hall, 6: 30pm @AAS 227, Kissimmee, FL

February 22-24, 2016 –  LSST Joint Technical Meeting, Santa Cruz, CA

March 7-11, 2016 – LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (DESC) meeting, SLAC

March 8-10, 2016 –  2nd Annual US-Chile Education Summit, Chile

April 11-13, 2016 – LSSTC Board Meeting* in Washington, DC

May 24-26, 2016 – XLDB 2016 Conference and Workshop, SLAC

June 20-24, 2016 – LSST@Europe2*, Belgrade, Serbia

June 28-July 1, 2016 – SPIE Astronomical Telescopes & Instrumentation, Edinburgh, Scotland

July 18-22, 2016 – LSST DESC meeting, at Oxford, UK

August 15-19, 2016 – LSST 2016 Project & Science Workshop

 

Image credits

  • 2014 LSST Conference – Credit: Andy Green, AAO
  • Data Mining Sphere – Credit: LSST