Vera C. Rubin Observatory: telescope and site status

Sandrine J. Thomas; Jeffrey Barr; Shawn Callahan; Andy W. Clements; Felipe Daruich; Juan Fabrega; Patrick Ingraham; William Gressler; Freddy Munoz; Doug Neill; Tiago Ribeiro; Jacques Sebag; Eduardo Serrano; Brian Stalder; Roberto Tighe; Tomislav Vucina; Bo Xin

doi:10.1117/12.2561581

13 December 2020 Vera C. Rubin Observatory: telescope and site status

Sandrine J. Thomas, Jeffrey Barr, Shawn Callahan, Andy W. Clements, Felipe Daruich, Juan Fabrega, Patrick Ingraham, William Gressler, Freddy Munoz, Doug Neill, Tiago Ribeiro, Jacques Sebag, Eduardo Serrano, Brian Stalder, Roberto Tighe, Tomislav Vucina, Bo Xin

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11445, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII; 114450I (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561581
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2020, Online Only

Abstract

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory (Rubin Obs) (formerly Large Synoptic Survey Telescope - LSST) is an 8.4-m telescope, now under construction in Chile. In the last couple of years, the telescope has achieved tremendous progress, though like many other projects, progress has been curtailed for over six months due to the worldwide pandemic. This paper provides the high-level status of each of the telescope's subsystem. The summit facility (Cerro Pachon) and base facility (La Serena) have been substantially completed. The dome is expected to be finished by October of 2021, which will also allow the completion of integration and testing of the Telescope Mount Assembly (TMA). The integration and verification of the TMA is planned to be completed by the end of 2021. The two mirror systems, M1M3 and M2, have been fully tested under interferometers, showing they both satisfy their performance requirement, and both have been received at the summit facility. The M2 mirror has been successfully coated with protected aluminum, which is the first scientific coating produced by the new Rubin coating plant. The M1M3 mirror is planned to be coated with the same plant at the beginning of 2022. The auxiliary telescope and its principal spectrograph instrument, which will allow for real-time atmospheric characterization, has been commissioned. The Rubin environment awareness system (EAS), which includes the DIMM, weather station, all-sky camera, and facility environmental control, is operational. Significant progress has been made on the software for all of the above-mentioned subsystems, as well as the comprehensive telescope control system and the telescope operator interfaces.

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Sandrine J. Thomas, Jeffrey Barr, Shawn Callahan, Andy W. Clements, Felipe Daruich, Juan Fabrega, Patrick Ingraham, William Gressler, Freddy Munoz, Doug Neill, Tiago Ribeiro, Jacques Sebag, Eduardo Serrano, Brian Stalder, Roberto Tighe, Tomislav Vucina, and Bo Xin "Vera C. Rubin Observatory: telescope and site status", Proc. SPIE 11445, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VIII, 114450I (13 December 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561581

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