LSST E-News |
From the Project Office
Rainbow over Cerro Pachón. Image credit: C. Claver, LSST
This issue of LSST E-News follows the team from Washington, DC, to Chile, as we move toward the realization of the LSST. Highlights this quarter include:
- LSST submitted an updated Major Research Equipment and Facility Construction (MREFC) proposal to the NSF on Feb 1, 2011.
- The April meeting of the LSST Board took place in La Serena, Chile, and included a visit to El Peñón on Cerro Pachón.
- Mechanical samples of prototype sensors have been delivered from two vendors, demonstrating the technical ability to reach design specifications.
- M1/M3 is now in the final phase of loose abrasive grinding.
- The first production blast to break up rock on the LSST site, funded by private sources, occurred on March 8th, 2011.
- Requirements for user interfaces for both science and public users of LSST have been drafted.
- Webcams from Cerro Pachón have been installed and linked to the LSST online Gallery page so others can follow the site leveling activity.
V. Krabbendam, S. Jacoby, L. Walkowicz and C. Claver stand ready to tell everyone about LSST. Image credit: LSST
LSST was sponsored by the American Astronomical Society to participate in the 16th annual Science-Technology-Engineering Working Group’s Congressional Visits Day (CVD). Team members were joined by Susan Hutchison (Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts & Sciences) in Washington, DC, April 6 & 7, 2011 for the CVD exhibit as well as visits to NSF program staff in Astronomy and Education.
LSST Board Members stand on the recently leveled Cerro Pachón summit during the April meeting in La Serena, Chile. Image credit: LSST
While standing on Cerro Tololo near the Blanco 4m, LSST Board members were surprised and a bit disappointed as rain drops began to fall, meaning we were unlikely to see the dark Chilean night sky after dinner. But disappointment turned to amazement as a rainbow formed and seemed to touch the Cerro Pachón summit near the future location of LSST. It’s hard to miss a sign like that – the future is bright for LSST!
LSST is a public-private partnership. Funding for design and development activity comes from the National Science Foundation, private donations, grants to universities, and in-kind support at Department of Energy laboratories and other LSSTC Institutional Members:
Adler Planetarium; Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University; Chile; Cornell University; Drexel University; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; George Mason University; Google, Inc.; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Institut de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (IN2P3); Johns Hopkins University; Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) – Stanford University; Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Inc.; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL); National Optical Astronomy Observatory; Princeton University; Purdue University; Research Corporation for Science Advancement; Rutgers University; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Space Telescope Science Institute; Texas A & M University; The Pennsylvania State University; The University of Arizona; University of California at Davis; University of California at Irvine; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Michigan; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pittsburgh; University of Washington; Vanderbilt University
LSST E-News Team:
- Suzanne Jacoby (Editor-in-Chief)
- Anna Spitz (Writer at Large)
- Mark Newhouse (Design & Production: Web)
- Emily Acosta (Design & Production: PDF/Print)
- Sidney Wolff (Editorial Consultant)
- Additional contributors as noted
LSST E-News is a free email publication of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Project. It is for informational purposes only, and the information is subject to change without notice.
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