Thank you to everyone who joined us for DiRAC February planetarium event! It was wonderful to see such a great turnout. We’re excited to host another DiRAC event, featuring an engaging lecture by University of Washington’s Prof. Ivezić followed by a planetarium show.

Prof. Željko Ivezić

Join us for an evening exploring Rubin science and the exciting discoveries ahead. We hope to see you there — register early to reserve your spot.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), the most comprehensive opticalastronomical sky survey ever undertaken, will obtain panoramic images of the night sky every clear nightfor ten years, starting this year. The resulting 60 petabytes of imaging data, essentially a digital colormovie of the night sky, will include about 20 billion galaxies and a similar number of stars, and will beused for investigations ranging from cataloging potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroids to fundamentalphysics such as characterization of dark matter and dark energy. Prof. Ivezic will describe scientific goals behind thisproject, showcase its early data, and discuss remaining fine tuning of the Observatory in order to start LSST.

Željko Ivezić is a professor of astronomy at the University of Washington, Head of Rubin’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time and former Director of Rubin Observatory Construction. Željko’s scientific interests are in detection, analysis and interpretation of electromagnetic radiation from astronomical sources, with emphasis on large datasets and machine learning.

Sarah Greenstreet is a tenure-track assistant astronomer at the NSF National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) and an affiliate assistant professor in the University of Washington’s Department of Astronomy. She is also a member of the Rubin Observatory Community Science Team and has served as the Lead for the Rubin Observatory Solar System Science Collaboration’s Near-Earth Objects and Interstellar Objects Working Group for the past seven years. Prof. Greenstreet’s research program broadly focuses on orbital dynamics, characterization, and impacts of small bodies across the Solar System, with a particular focus on the rarest and most unusual asteroids. To learn more about her research, please visit her website: www.sarahgreenstreet.com.

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Lecture   

Prof. Željko Ivezić    Rubin’s LSST The Greatest Movie of All Time with Early Work Setting the Stage   

Prof. Sarah Greenstreet    Ultra-fast Rotators, Among First Rubin Discoveries

7:30 PM – 8:30 PM Planetarium Show & Q&A

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• The Vera C. Rubin Observatory sits on its mountain peak in Chile during observation activities in April 2025. The observatory will soon begin real-time nightly monitoring of the entire Southern Hemisphere sky. Photo: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/P. Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)