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Rubin Observatory's first LSST Camera release: 500k galaxies in the COSMOS field

107 points by MarcoDewey 2mo ago

andrewvl 2mo ago
Deep space images is a crazy and wonderful thing! Space without borders!
toufka 2mo ago
The image size of this camera is unbelievably huge in its coverage. Most telescopes take pictures of objects - this one takes pictures of the entire sky. And will do so in a time-lapse fashion for 10 years. It's simultaneously more in line with a human's experience than an obscure wavelength of tiny object not visible to the naked eye - it takes a high-resolution picture that's similar to what you'd see if you look at the sky. But it's also profoundly grand beyond a human's experience because of just how much stuff is collected.
- dylan604 2mo ago
  I always laugh when I tell people I have a wide angle telescope, but Rubin takes that to an entirely different level.
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
irickt 2mo ago
Viewer from Aladin Sky Atlas https://skyviewer.app/explorer https://skyviewer.app/explorer
- Aboutplants 2mo ago
  Stunning
- relaxer 2mo ago
  Just beautiful. Idk why, some part of me feels there's repeating fractals that differ in large chunks of time. At the same time somehow every chunk is genuinely different. So much space my mind wants there to be a trick of some kind that reduces it
- binarystargazer 2mo ago
  I’m the person in the chain that takes the scientific data and maps it into these color images used in the viewer (among other responsibilities). I spent a long time researching and developing the software that as close as possible maps the data into human perception. It means so much to see people out there appreciating our work, and following what Rubin will achieve. So that you for taking your time to check it out!
  - graerg 2mo ago
    Hey! Former astronomer here; I used to work a lot with SDSS data products. Do you happen to have a link to any sort of photometry DB/catalog for Rubin? Basically I’m looking to grab a ton of data but I’ve been out of the field for a while and I’m not sure where they publish their data sets and which ones you’d recommend as being relatively accessible.
    - binarystargazer 2mo ago
      You want to check out the early science release info at https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/resources/early-science https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/resources/early-... . This is all early science from preliminary data. It is mostly to help people ramp up developing their software against the type of things they will be seeing in the future. There some known issues and gotchas outlined in the release. Hopefully this will be enough to whet your appetite. The data seen in this sky viewer is part of the Data Preview 2.
      - thegrim33 2mo ago
        I hope the data releases are a bit better than what I've seen from recent telescopes. The common pattern seems to be that the majority of data is locked away behind multi-year embargo periods, or never released to the public at all with no explanation why, with only the smallest little crumbs of raw data actually released to the public, and usually years out of date. Also you have to go through some kafkaesque chain of technologies/servers/bureaucracy to get access to that little bit of data. It's a little depressing to me when the public funds these telescopes and then get snubbed when it comes to getting access to the data they produce.
- skybrian 2mo ago
  This is tricky to navigate because most of the sky survey hasn't happened yet. You need to zoom way out and look for patches that are mostly, but not completely black. And that gives you an idea of how huge the map will be once they've filled more of it in. Presumably it will get easier after more of the survey is done, but having a list of bookmarks instead of just one might be nice?
  - binarystargazer 2mo ago
    If you click on the search icon, there are some quick links to fields across the sky so you don't need to scroll as much. There are some interface tweaks and ui stuff that will be coming down stream that will help with some of this as well.
doodlebugging 2mo ago
This is great! I love to meander thru data like this trying to understand what I am looking at. I found a couple of things that are probably processing artifacts from the spectral filtering and selection of colors. One of them is a bright blue dipping segment that looks out of place. I can see blue filter artifacts on many of the starbursts. This one is very coherent but only for a short interstellar distance. I have labeled it "2" on the linked screenshots. [0] The other odd duck is the one labeled "1" on the screenshots. It is a green artifact that is brighter and dipping opposite most of the other green artifacts in the starbursts. I understand there are likely to be multiple passes of coherence filters, median filters, etc so these are probably related to signal/noise ratio enhancements in the raw data. If you would like to see them for yourself I have included a couple of screenshots that will help locate them. So much of this appears to be made up of long segments of stars that may twist through space. The individual stars look to maintain an internally consistent spacing in some cases. I think in many of these the individual stars or points of light are widely separated but from our vantage point they look related. It is in some ways like using a flashlight to look at the dark sky from the inside of a curving windshield that has a lot of bug guts on it. There's a lot going on out there. [0]https://postimg.cc/gallery/WbFww2h https://postimg.cc/gallery/WbFww2h
- binarystargazer 2mo ago
  Most of the artifacts you see are actually asteroids. We don't take all the colors at once when making an image. The ccds just count photons that fall on them, so we have giant glass filters that allow specific wavelengths through. We then image the fields multiple times with multiple filters and then map the wavelengths of light into color images (see other post about trying to make them as perceptually correct as possible). However, because taking multiple images over time means that things which are changing (i.e. moving asteroids) not not appear at the same places when we combine them. Most of the time these time changing effects get filtered out in the combination step, but sometimes if they are bright enough, or persistent enough the make it through. As an FYI, you can right click in the sky viewer and it will show the coordinates of the object, and there is a button to copy a shareable link that will take anyone right to where you are looking in the sky.
roysting 2mo ago
[dead]

107 points by MarcoDewey 2mo ago

Deep space images is a crazy and wonderful thing! Space without borders!

The image size of this camera is unbelievably huge in its coverage. Most telescopes take pictures of objects - this one takes pictures of the entire sky. And will do so in a time-lapse fashion for 10 years. It's simultaneously more in line with a human's experience than an obscure wavelength of tiny object not visible to the naked eye - it takes a high-resolution picture that's similar to what you'd see if you look at the sky. But it's also profoundly grand beyond a human's experience because of just how much stuff is collected.

dylan604 2mo ago
I always laugh when I tell people I have a wide angle telescope, but Rubin takes that to an entirely different level.

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

irickt 2mo ago

Viewer from Aladin Sky Atlas https://skyviewer.app/explorer https://skyviewer.app/explorer

Aboutplants 2mo ago
Stunning
relaxer 2mo ago
Just beautiful. Idk why, some part of me feels there's repeating fractals that differ in large chunks of time. At the same time somehow every chunk is genuinely different. So much space my mind wants there to be a trick of some kind that reduces it
binarystargazer 2mo ago
I’m the person in the chain that takes the scientific data and maps it into these color images used in the viewer (among other responsibilities). I spent a long time researching and developing the software that as close as possible maps the data into human perception. It means so much to see people out there appreciating our work, and following what Rubin will achieve. So that you for taking your time to check it out!
- graerg 2mo ago
  Hey! Former astronomer here; I used to work a lot with SDSS data products. Do you happen to have a link to any sort of photometry DB/catalog for Rubin? Basically I’m looking to grab a ton of data but I’ve been out of the field for a while and I’m not sure where they publish their data sets and which ones you’d recommend as being relatively accessible.
  - binarystargazer 2mo ago
    You want to check out the early science release info at https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/resources/early-science https://rubinobservatory.org/for-scientists/resources/early-... . This is all early science from preliminary data. It is mostly to help people ramp up developing their software against the type of things they will be seeing in the future. There some known issues and gotchas outlined in the release. Hopefully this will be enough to whet your appetite. The data seen in this sky viewer is part of the Data Preview 2.
    - thegrim33 2mo ago
      I hope the data releases are a bit better than what I've seen from recent telescopes. The common pattern seems to be that the majority of data is locked away behind multi-year embargo periods, or never released to the public at all with no explanation why, with only the smallest little crumbs of raw data actually released to the public, and usually years out of date. Also you have to go through some kafkaesque chain of technologies/servers/bureaucracy to get access to that little bit of data. It's a little depressing to me when the public funds these telescopes and then get snubbed when it comes to getting access to the data they produce.
skybrian 2mo ago
This is tricky to navigate because most of the sky survey hasn't happened yet. You need to zoom way out and look for patches that are mostly, but not completely black. And that gives you an idea of how huge the map will be once they've filled more of it in. Presumably it will get easier after more of the survey is done, but having a list of bookmarks instead of just one might be nice?
- binarystargazer 2mo ago
  If you click on the search icon, there are some quick links to fields across the sky so you don't need to scroll as much. There are some interface tweaks and ui stuff that will be coming down stream that will help with some of this as well.

doodlebugging 2mo ago

This is great! I love to meander thru data like this trying to understand what I am looking at. I found a couple of things that are probably processing artifacts from the spectral filtering and selection of colors. One of them is a bright blue dipping segment that looks out of place. I can see blue filter artifacts on many of the starbursts. This one is very coherent but only for a short interstellar distance. I have labeled it "2" on the linked screenshots. [0] The other odd duck is the one labeled "1" on the screenshots. It is a green artifact that is brighter and dipping opposite most of the other green artifacts in the starbursts. I understand there are likely to be multiple passes of coherence filters, median filters, etc so these are probably related to signal/noise ratio enhancements in the raw data. If you would like to see them for yourself I have included a couple of screenshots that will help locate them. So much of this appears to be made up of long segments of stars that may twist through space. The individual stars look to maintain an internally consistent spacing in some cases. I think in many of these the individual stars or points of light are widely separated but from our vantage point they look related. It is in some ways like using a flashlight to look at the dark sky from the inside of a curving windshield that has a lot of bug guts on it. There's a lot going on out there. [0]https://postimg.cc/gallery/WbFww2h https://postimg.cc/gallery/WbFww2h

binarystargazer 2mo ago
Most of the artifacts you see are actually asteroids. We don't take all the colors at once when making an image. The ccds just count photons that fall on them, so we have giant glass filters that allow specific wavelengths through. We then image the fields multiple times with multiple filters and then map the wavelengths of light into color images (see other post about trying to make them as perceptually correct as possible). However, because taking multiple images over time means that things which are changing (i.e. moving asteroids) not not appear at the same places when we combine them. Most of the time these time changing effects get filtered out in the combination step, but sometimes if they are bright enough, or persistent enough the make it through. As an FYI, you can right click in the sky viewer and it will show the coordinates of the object, and there is a button to copy a shareable link that will take anyone right to where you are looking in the sky.

roysting 2mo ago

[dead]