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    • About
    • History
    • Who was Vera Rubin?
    • Construction Updates
    • Rubin Culture
      • Rubin in Chile
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      • Observatory Site Selection
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      • Leadership
      • Science Collaborations
    • Funding Information
      • Work With Us
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    • Explore
      • How Rubin Works
      • Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)
      • Rubin Technology
      • Alert Stream
      • Rubin Numbers
    • Science Goals
    • Rubin Voices
    • Get Involved in Rubin Research
      • Activities, Games, and More
      • Space Surveyors Game
      • Make Your Own Rubin Voices Trading Card
      • Animated Video Series
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    • News
    • Press Releases
    • For Media
    • Press Releases
    • For Scientists
    • Events and deadlines
      • Resources for scientists
      • Rubin Community Forum
      • Early Science Program
      • Workshops and seminars
      • Tutorials
      • LSST Discovery Alliance
      • Code of Conduct
      • Survey, instruments, and telescopes
      • Key numbers
      • The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)
      • Instruments
      • Telescopes
      • Data products, pipelines, and services
      • Data access and analysis
      • Recent data releases
      • Alerts and brokers
      • Data processing pipelines
      • Future data products
      • Data Policy
      • Documentation and publications
      • Technical documentation
      • How to cite Rubin Observatory
      • Publication policies
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      • Galaxies Science Collaboration
      • Stars, Milky Way, and Local Volume Science Collaboration
      • Solar System Science Collaboration
      • Dark Energy Science Collaboration
      • Active Galactic Nuclei Science Collaboration
      • Transients and Variable Stars Science Collaboration
      • Strong Lensing Science Collaboration
      • Informatics and Statistics Science Collaboration
    • Citizen Science
      • Committees and teams
      • Science Advisory Committee (SAC)
      • Survey Cadence Optimization Committee (SCOC)
      • Users Committee
      • Community Science Team (CST)
      • Research Inclusion Group
      • Project Science Team (PST)
    • Education
    • Education FAQs
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Contact us

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science will support Rubin Observatory in its operations phase to carry out the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. They will also provide support for scientific research with the data. During operations, NSF funding is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF, and DOE funding is managed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), under contract by DOE. Rubin Observatory is operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC.

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.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

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  1. For Scientists
  2. Documentation and publications
  3. Technical documentation

Technical documentation

Rubin's technical documentation is searchable via the lsst.io service.

This page provides quick links to the most popular technical documents for scientists.

Go to Rubin's technical documentation hub at lsst.io.

Data products documentation

Every data release has its own documentation and accompanying tutorials.

Future data releases

The plans for future data processing and data products.

  • Data Products Definitions Document (DPDD)
  • DPDD Abridged (DOI-citable)
  • Data Previews 1 and 2

Recent data releases

Simulated data are available as Data Preview 0 (DP0; dp0.lsst.io).

  • Data Preview 0.2: dp0-2.lsst.io
  • Data Preview 0.3: dp0-3.lsst.io

Past data releases

  • Data Preview 0.1: dp0-1.lsst.io (deprecated)

The Rubin Science Platform

The Rubin Science Platform (RSP) is the online service that gives users access to the Rubin data products, and provides tools and computational resources for processing and analysis.

  • rsp.lsst.io

The LSST Science Pipelines

The LSST Science Pipelines are the open-source software packages that Rubin Data Management creates, maintains, and runs in order to provide science users with calibrated, science-ready images and catalogs.

  • pipelines.lsst.io

Developer guide

This guide for Rubin staff is openly available so that others can understand how the data management system (and related documentation) is built.

  • developer.lsst.io

LSST survey strategy

The LSST survey strategy is optimized by simulating operations with the scheduler software and applying metrics contributed by the science community.

  • survey-strategy.lsst.io

Citizen science projects

Guidelines and tutorials for scientists using citizen science and the Zooniverse as tools for science with the Rubin data products.

  • citizen-science.lsst.io (coming soon)

Policy documents

Policies that apply to all science users of the Rubin data products, tools, and services.

  • Rubin Data Policy (RDO-013)
  • The RSP's Acceptable Use Policy
  • How to cite Rubin Observatory

Construction-era documentation

Original design and requirements documents

A selection of documents that were used to guide or describe the construction of the Rubin Observatory and its data products, tools, and services.

  • Science Requirements Document (LPM-17)
  • Data Management System Requirements (LSE-61)
  • Science Platform Vision Document (LSE-319)
  • Data Products Definition Document (LSE-163)
  • Use cases and science requirements on a user batch facility (DMTN-202)

Search by keyword in Rubin technical documentation.

The LSST Science Book, 2009

Find the original vision for Rubin Observatory in the LSST Science Book, Volume 2 (2009).

The ls.st service

Only Rubin staff may use this service to create new custom shortlinks, but anyone may use the links to access technical documentation by name.

For example, the DPDD can be found at ls.st/dpdd. And a Rubin Tech Note (RTN) or Data Management Tech Note (DMTN) can be found by name with, e.g., ls.st/dmtn-102 (or dmtn-102.lsst.io).

Can't find something?

Rubin Community Forum

Ask questions, get help, report bugs or errors, and join in discussions about Rubin Observatory and its data products, pipelines, and services.

Go to the Rubin Community Forum