UK Involvement in LSST: Phase B (QUB component)
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Mathematics and Physics
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Planned Impact
Support for UK involvement in LSST, through funding the LSST:UK Science Centre (LUSC), can generate societal and economic impact under the following five headings:
1. Enhancing the research capacity, knowledge and skills of enterprises working on "Big Data" issues being incubated within the Higgs Centre for Innovation.
The Phase B LUSC Data Access Centre workpackage is co-located on the Royal Observatory Edinburgh campus with the Higgs Centre for Innovation, which is being funded to improve interaction between academia and industry in Space and Big Data, and to enhance economic impact in those two domains. We shall exploit that co-location to ensure that Big Data innovations within the LSST project in the US filter through to UK SMEs and that the challenging requirements of LSST inspire the development of novel Big Data techniques and technologies within the UK, as has been the case in the US.
2. Increasing public engagement with research through Citizen Science initiatives.
The LSST:UK Consortium will develop a Citizen Science platform based on the pioneering Zooniverse project, which currently has more than one million users doing real science online. Computational advances between now and the start of LSST operations will enable Citizen Science activities that greatly exceed what is currently possible, and perhaps most exciting is the prospect of involving Citizen Scientists in the classification of the million or more transient alerts that LSST will generate per night, placing the public at the heart of LSST's pioneering exploration of time-domain astronomy.
3. Enhancing cultural enrichment and quality of life through education & outreach activities.
The LSST:UK Consortium institutions have a wealth of experience in education and public outreach (EPO) activities, from running Open Days and exhibitions to CPD courses for school teachers to Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). During Phase B we will develop an EPO programme, in conjunction with the very active LSST EPO team in the US.
4. Enhancing the research capacity, knowledge and skills of organisations through the employment of researchers with high-level expertise derived from working on LSST.
Over the 18-year lifetime of the LUSC programme, many students (e.g. from the STFC data-intensive science CDTs) and postdocs who have developed high-level expertise from working on LSST will pass from astronomy to the commercial sector, taking their valuable knowledge and skills with them. Particularly valuable will be the computational and statistical skills that will be readily applicable to the Big Data challenges prevalent in the public and private sector, and the expertise in thick CCDs developed through UK involvement in the LSST camera team.
5. Wealth creation, through the placing of construction contracts with UK companies.
The detector characterisation work started during LUSC Phase A, and proposed for continuation during Phase B, has included liaison with a UK company that has now signed a large contract to supply roughly half of the LSST detectors.
1. Enhancing the research capacity, knowledge and skills of enterprises working on "Big Data" issues being incubated within the Higgs Centre for Innovation.
The Phase B LUSC Data Access Centre workpackage is co-located on the Royal Observatory Edinburgh campus with the Higgs Centre for Innovation, which is being funded to improve interaction between academia and industry in Space and Big Data, and to enhance economic impact in those two domains. We shall exploit that co-location to ensure that Big Data innovations within the LSST project in the US filter through to UK SMEs and that the challenging requirements of LSST inspire the development of novel Big Data techniques and technologies within the UK, as has been the case in the US.
2. Increasing public engagement with research through Citizen Science initiatives.
The LSST:UK Consortium will develop a Citizen Science platform based on the pioneering Zooniverse project, which currently has more than one million users doing real science online. Computational advances between now and the start of LSST operations will enable Citizen Science activities that greatly exceed what is currently possible, and perhaps most exciting is the prospect of involving Citizen Scientists in the classification of the million or more transient alerts that LSST will generate per night, placing the public at the heart of LSST's pioneering exploration of time-domain astronomy.
3. Enhancing cultural enrichment and quality of life through education & outreach activities.
The LSST:UK Consortium institutions have a wealth of experience in education and public outreach (EPO) activities, from running Open Days and exhibitions to CPD courses for school teachers to Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). During Phase B we will develop an EPO programme, in conjunction with the very active LSST EPO team in the US.
4. Enhancing the research capacity, knowledge and skills of organisations through the employment of researchers with high-level expertise derived from working on LSST.
Over the 18-year lifetime of the LUSC programme, many students (e.g. from the STFC data-intensive science CDTs) and postdocs who have developed high-level expertise from working on LSST will pass from astronomy to the commercial sector, taking their valuable knowledge and skills with them. Particularly valuable will be the computational and statistical skills that will be readily applicable to the Big Data challenges prevalent in the public and private sector, and the expertise in thick CCDs developed through UK involvement in the LSST camera team.
5. Wealth creation, through the placing of construction contracts with UK companies.
The detector characterisation work started during LUSC Phase A, and proposed for continuation during Phase B, has included liaison with a UK company that has now signed a large contract to supply roughly half of the LSST detectors.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Stephen Smartt (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Eappachen D
(2024)
XMM- Newton -discovered Fast X-ray Transients: host galaxies and limits on contemporaneous detections of optical counterparts
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Acharyya A
(2023)
VERITAS Discovery of Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from S3 1227+25 and Multiwavelength Observations
in The Astrophysical Journal
Yao Y
(2023)
Tidal Disruption Event Demographics with the Zwicky Transient Facility: Volumetric Rates, Luminosity Function, and Implications for the Local Black Hole Mass Function
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Sollerman J
(2021)
Three Core-Collapse Supernovae with Nebular Hydrogen Emission
Jones D
(2021)
The Young Supernova Experiment: Survey Goals, Overview, and Operations
in The Astrophysical Journal
Aleo P
(2023)
The Young Supernova Experiment Data Release 1 (YSE DR1): Light Curves and Photometric Classification of 1975 Supernovae
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Yao Y
(2022)
The X-Ray and Radio Loud Fast Blue Optical Transient AT2020mrf: Implications for an Emerging Class of Engine-driven Massive Star Explosions
in The Astrophysical Journal
Sollerman J
(2021)
The Type II supernova SN 2020jfo in M 61, implications for progenitor system, and explosion dynamics
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ben-Ami T
(2023)
The Type Ibn Supernova 2019kbj: Indications for Diversity in Type Ibn Supernova Progenitors
in The Astrophysical Journal
Onori F
(2022)
The nuclear transient AT 2017gge: a tidal disruption event in a dusty and gas-rich environment and the awakening of a dormant SMBH
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Srivastav S
(2022)
The luminous type Ia supernova 2022ilv and its early excess emission
Srivastav S
(2023)
The Luminous Type Ia Supernova 2022ilv and Its Early Excess Emission
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Srivastav S
(2020)
The Lowest of the Low: Discovery of SN 2019gsc and the Nature of Faint Iax Supernovae
in The Astrophysical Journal
Nagy Z
(2023)
The Gaia alerted fading of the FUor-type star Gaia21elv
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pasham D
(2022)
The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole
in Nature Astronomy
Kato T
(2023)
The 2022 active state of the AM CVn star NSV 1440
Brogan R
(2023)
Still alive and kicking: A significant outburst in changing-look AGN Mrk 1018
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
GutiƩrrez C
(2022)
SN 2020wnt: a slow-evolving carbon-rich superluminous supernova with no O ii lines and a bumpy light curve
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parrag E
(2021)
SN 2019hcc: a Type II supernova displaying early O ii lines
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Davis K
(2023)
SN 2022ann: a Type Icn supernova from a dwarf galaxy that reveals helium in its circumstellar environment
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zhang X
(2022)
SN 2019va: a Type IIP Supernova with Large Influence of Nickel-56 Decay on the Plateau-phase Light Curve
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parrag E
(2021)
SN 2019hcc: A Type II Supernova Displaying Early O II Lines
Teja R
(2023)
SN 2018gj: A Short Plateau Type II Supernova with Persistent Blueshifted Ha Emission
in The Astrophysical Journal
Wang Q
(2021)
SN 2018agk: A Prototypical Type Ia Supernova with a Smooth Power-law Rise in Kepler (K2)
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chen Y
(2024)
Searching for quasar candidates with periodic variations from the Zwicky Transient Facility: results and implications
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Wang Q
(2023)
Revealing the Progenitor of SN 2021zby through Analysis of the TESS Shock-cooling Light Curve
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Aghakhanloo M
(2023)
Repeating periodic eruptions of the supernova impostor SN 2000ch
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aghakhanloo M
(2022)
Repeating periodic eruptions of the supernova impostor SN 2000ch
Aghakhanloo M
(2023)
Recurring outbursts of the supernova impostor AT 2016blu in NGC 4559
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Aghakhanloo M
(2022)
Recurring outbursts of the supernova impostor AT 2016blu in NGC 4559
Title | Lasair: The Transient Alert Broker for LSST:UK |
Description | Lasair provides a user-friendly interface to access public ZTF transient alerts. The alerts are transmitted by ZTF typically within 13 minutes of the exposure, in Avro/Kafka format. They are ingested into the Lasair database (on hardware in Edinburgh) within 20 minutes. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Lasair is the transient alerts broker for the LSST:UK collaboration. In preparation for LSST's data stream, Lasair ingests the ZTF public alert stream into a relational database, assimilates the alerts into objects, and produces lightcurves and reliable cross-matches to star and galaxy catalogs. Lasair can be viewed and queried through a web browser5 and we provide simple example streams of interesting objects, as well as access to a full SQL search engine. Registration to the website is optional, free, and open to all. |
URL | https://lasair.roe.ac.uk/ |