Localize site content
Homepage
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs Board
  • Intranet
  • Visual Identity Guide
  • Privacy Policy

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.

Funding agency logos
    • About
    • History
    • Who was Vera Rubin?
      • Rubin in Chile
      • Cerro Pachón
      • Observatory Site Selection
      • Organization
      • Leadership
      • Science Collaborations
      • Departments and Teams
    • Funding Information
      • Work With Us
      • Jobs Board
    • Explore
      • How Rubin Works
      • Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)
      • Rubin Technology
      • Alert Stream
      • Rubin Numbers
    • Science Goals
      • Skyviewer ↗
      • Skysynth: The cosmos captured by Rubin, for your ears
    • Orbitviewer ↗
    • Rubin Voices
    • Get Involved in Rubin Research
      • Activities, Games, and More
      • Space Surveyors Game
      • Animated Video Series
      • Rubin's 3200-Megapixel Group Photo
    • Gallery
      • Main Gallery
      • First Look
      • Graphics & Illustrations
      • Outreach & Education
    • Slideshows
    • Construction Archive Gallery
    • Media Use Policy
    • News
    • Press Releases
      • Rubin Observatory First Look
      • The Cosmic Treasure Chest
      • A Swarm of New Asteroids
      • Rhythms in the Stars
      • Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae
      • Rubin First Look Watch Parties
    • Media Resources
    • Press Releases
    • Name Guidelines
    • For Scientists
    • Get started
      • News, events, and deadlines
      • Rubin Science Assemblies
      • Rubin Data Academy
      • Rubin Community Workshop
      • Resources for scientists
      • Rubin Community Forum
      • Early Science Program
      • Workshops and seminars
      • Tutorials
      • LSST Discovery Alliance
      • Code of Conduct
      • Public outreach materials
      • 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
      • Simulation software
      • Documentation and publications
      • Technical documentation
      • How to cite Rubin Observatory
      • Publication policies
      • Glossary & Acronyms
      • Papers citing Rubin Observatory
      • Science Collaborations
      • 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
      • Target of Opportunity (ToO) Advisory Board
      • Community Science Team (CST)
      • Research Inclusion Working Group (RIWG)
      • Project Science Team (PST)
      • In Kind Program
      • Resources
      • In-Kind Program FAQs
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • How to navigate this website
    • Education
    • First Look Resources for Lasting Impact
    • Education FAQs
    • Educators
    • Glossary
    • Investigations
    • Calendar
Localize site content

Let's Connect

  • Visit the Rubin Observatory on Facebook
  • Visit the Rubin Observatory on Instagram
  • Visit the Rubin Observatory on LinkedIn
  • Visit the Rubin Observatory on Twitter
  • Visit the Rubin Observatory on YouTube
  1. For Scientists
  2. Get started

Get started

Welcome!

This page is a guide for all scientists and students looking to get started with Rubin data analysis.

Guidance for Rubin data rights holders

Step 1: Confirm that you have Rubin data rights.

Review the basics of the Rubin data policy.

Step 2: Get a Rubin Science Platform (RSP) account.

The RSP is a web-based service for access and analysis of proprietary LSST data.

Follow the instructions for new accounts at rsp.lsst.io.

Step 3: Get a Rubin Community Forum account.

The Community Forum is Rubin's open helpdesk. Any and all questions or issues should be posted in the Support category, which is monitored by Rubin staff.

Learn more about the Rubin Community Forum.

Step 4: Learn by working through tutorials.

Choose from the recent data releases, and find tutorials in the associated data release documentation (e.g., for Data Preview 1, at dp1.lsst.io).

Tutorials are often demonstrated live during virtual and in-person Rubin workshops and seminars, which all are welcome to join.

Step 5: Proceed with your science goals.

All types of scientific endeavors are equally open to all individuals with data rights, and no science is reserved for any group (DPOL-303 in the Rubin data policy).

For opportunities to collaborate with others, read on.

Guidance for everyone

The following guidance applies to everyone, regardless of their data rights status.

Option 1: Collaborate with others.

Consider joining one of the LSST Science Collaborations, only some of which require data rights.

Collaboration and co-authorship between scientists with and without data rights is encouraged, and the Data Policy provides guidance on this.

Option 2: Use the public alerts and brokers.

The alerts and brokers are public (not proprietary), meaning that data rights are not required to do science with them.

Option 3: Access the user support resources.

Resources such as the documentation, tutorials, workshops, seminars, and Rubin Community Forum are open to everyone.

Option 4: Use post-proprietary data.

In the future, subsets of the data releases will be publicly available after the two-year proprietary period (details to be determined).