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LSST Science Book Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 square degrees, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 square degrees south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.

For more information, contact:
Pat Eliason, LSSTC Executive Officer 520.626.9349
J. Anthony Tyson, LSST Chief Scientist 530.752.3830
Victor Krabbendam, LSST Project Manager 520.626.2496
Michael A. Strauss, Chair of Science Collaborations 609.258.3808

Download Options

The Science Book, written by the LSST Science Collaborations and project members, can be downloaded as a PDF file in its entirety (596 pages, over 50 Mb) or by chapter. The current version was made public on October 16, 2009. We anticipate updating this text in a year or two. The full list of 245 contributing authors may be found here.

Feedback on the LSST Science Book is welcomed. Send comments to the Science Collaboration teams at scibook@lsst.org.

Download from arXiv

Full Book

  • Full size 51.4 mb pdf

    How to cite the book:
    LSST Science Collaborations and LSST Project 2009, LSST Science Book,
    Version 2.0, arXiv:0912.0201,

  • Book Cover

    (The front cover of the Science Book features an image of the LSST created from mechanical drawings by Todd Mason, Mason Productions, Inc., shown against an image created from Deep Lens Survey data. The back cover shows a simulated 15-second LSST exposure from one of the 4K x 4K CCDs in the focal plane.) Graphic design by E. Acosta (LSSTC).

By Chapter

  1. Introduction
  2. LSST System Design
  3. System Performance
  4. Education and Public Outreach
  5. The Solar System
  6. Stellar Populations
  7. Milky Way & Local Volume Structure
  8. The Transient & Variable Universe
  9. Galaxies
  1. Active Galactic Nuclei
  2. Supernovae
  3. Strong Lenses
  4. Large-Scale Structure
  5. Weak Lensing
  6. Cosmological Physics

 

Preface

Major advances in our understanding of the Universe over the history of astronomy have often arisen from dramatic improvements in our ability to observe the sky to greater depth, in previously unexplored wavebands, with higher precision, or with improved spatial, spectral, or temporal resolution. Aided by rapid progress in information technology, current sky surveys are again changing the way we view and study the Universe, and the next-generation instruments, and the surveys that will be made with them, will maintain this revolutionary progress. Substantial progress in the important scientific problems of the next decade (determining the nature of dark energy and dark matter, studying the evolution of galaxies and the structure of our own Milky Way, opening up the time domain to discover faint variable objects, and mapping both the inner and outer Solar System) all require wide-field repeated deep imaging of the sky in optical bands. more...

Acknowledgements

 

© 2009 by the LSST Corporation No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without the prior written permission from the LSST Corporation.

LSST Corporation
933 North Cherry Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85721-0009
520-881-2626
contact@lsst.org
http://www.lsst.org


Financial support for Rubin Observatory comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Cooperative Agreement No. 1258333, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515, and private funding raised by the LSST Corporation. The NSF-funded Rubin Observatory Project Office for construction was established as an operating center under management of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA).  The DOE-funded effort to build the Rubin Observatory LSST Camera (LSSTCam) is managed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.
NSF and DOE will continue to support Rubin Observatory in its Operations phase. They will also provide support for scientific research with LSST data.   




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