©
NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory represents a step change in researchers’ ability to study the cosmos. Over the next decade, the Chilean telescope will create a ‘movie of the sky,’ scanning the entire visible southern hemisphere every three days to catalogue an estimated 17 billion stars, 20 billion galaxies, and millions of transient events.
This vast survey promises to help unlock secrets of dark matter and dark energy, conduct the most comprehensive census of our solar system, and capture stellar explosions and phenomena currently beyond detection limits.
Scientists from the Division have helped to make this scientific revolution possible through more than a decade of sustained involvement. The University's journey with Rubin began when Professor Roger Davies, now Emeritus, established Oxford as an independent institutional partner of the then LSST Corporation through the Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys. This early commitment deepened significantly when the late Professor Ian Shipsey joined the Department of Physics in 2013 as Henry Moseley Centenary Professor, bringing with him expertise crucial to developing the telescope's extraordinary 3.2-billion-pixel camera, the world's largest digital camera, weighing 2,800kg.
Shipsey's particle physics background proved vital to the camera's development. Working with the Oxford Physics Microstructure Detector Laboratory and colleagues at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, his team characterised the camera's sensors and developed calibration systems. Professor Jeff Tseng, who worked alongside Shipsey on camera control and monitoring software, emphasised the project's interdisciplinary nature: ‘LSST isn't just about astrophysics! As particle physicists, our group has had a long and close involvement with Rubin, which complements experiments we conduct at high-energy colliders and neutrino and dark matter observatories.’
Oxford's influence continued as the project matured. Dr Aprajita Verma became the first non-US Science Collaboration lead for Strong Lensing from 2017-2020, while colleagues including Professors David Alonso, Maria Vincenzi, and Matt Jarvis took key leadership positions across Rubin's Dark Energy and Galaxies Science Collaborations. Verma explained: ‘Oxford has helped to prepare for science with the facility. We have been fortunate enough to take on different leadership roles within Rubin's eight science collaborations.’
Recognising the enormous data challenge ahead – Rubin will produce approximately 20 terabytes nightly – Oxford physicists developed sophisticated infrastructure to handle the information flood. The team built Lasair, a UK broker system designed to sift through the 10 million sources Rubin will detect each night. Professor Stephen Smartt, who leads the Hintze Centre, explained the sensitivity breakthrough this represents: ‘Rubin is a fast survey machine: with its enormous camera it can cover the whole southern hemisphere in a single night with a sensitivity 100 times better than currently running surveys.’
The project's commitment to open data access has particularly engaged Professor Chris Lintott, founder of citizen science platform Zooniverse. ‘I was attracted to work on the Rubin project by the promise of providing data for everybody – and that includes the public,’ Lintott explained. Drawing on experience with over two million citizen scientists, Oxford is preparing projects allowing anyone to contribute to cosmic discoveries through the Zooniverse platform.
Now serving as lead of Rubin's In-Kind Program and member of the Operations Executive, Verma oversees contributions from more than 40 programmes across 30 countries. As Oxford prepares to host First Look events for both the university community and public, the Department of Physics is keen to capitalise on years of preparation across astrophysics, particle physics, and atmospheric sciences.
For Lintott, the moment represents a career-long anticipation: ‘For the last 16 years, I have ended almost every talk I have given by speaking about the wonders we will find in Rubin data. I can't believe it is finally happening – and that ten years of discovery starts today.’