Rubin Represents in New Orleans

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) held its annual winter meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 7-11, and Rubin Observatory sent an enthusiastic group of staff members and scientists to participate. Overall, the meeting drew more than 3000 in-person attendees, and the agenda was packed each day from morning until night with inspiring speakers, science presentations, press conferences, workshops, and more.

Rubin Observatory hosted an exhibit booth throughout the week, where attendees interacted with Rubin staff members and scientists. Many also participated in Rubin’s “Space Surveyors” contest; playing the interactive, online game to be entered in a daily random drawing or competing more seriously for the overall top score prize. Daily winners went home with limited-edition Rubin water bottles, and the top score prizes (there was a 2-way tie!) were 1000-piece Rubin jigsaw puzzles.

On January 8th, Rubin Observatory’s formal education team facilitated an interactive session to introduce educators to the suite of online investigations offered by Rubin. The newly revised “Coloring the Universe” investigation was the main focus of the three-hour session, which was attended by about 25 high school and college instructors, as well as informal educators and outreach specialists.

People eager to use Rubin data for science were encouraged to attend a special session early in the week called Early Science with Rubin, which featured several talks about when and how certain data will be made available before the start of Rubin’s 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

Rubin also hosted a Town Hall on Thursday, January 11th—an informative event with presentations covering subjects such as Rubin’s recent construction achievements and upcoming activities, education and outreach initiatives, developments in the Rubin science community, and ways to get involved with Rubin.

Despite their busy schedules, many of the out-of-town meeting attendees found time to sample local New Orleans cuisine, and take in some of the live music for which the city is known. You can see photos taken throughout the week in our Gallery.