Rubin Observatory has officially started its mission. Pitt researchers have been ready for decades.

The first night the Vera C. Rubin Observatory tested its notification system, researchers received more than 800,000 alerts from its alert broker system, a series of hubs—including one developed jointly by Pitt and Google—engineered to share data with researchers and the public. Each alert signified a change in the night sky—from thousands of newly discovered asteroids, to light that made its way from stellar explosions that occurred eons ago.

And that wasn't even the main event.

University of Pittsburgh researchers Jeff Newman and Michael Wood-Vasey, both professors in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics and Astronomy, had been working toward this day for decades: June 29 marked the official start of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Rubin Observatory. Over the next 10 years, Rubin will image the entire southern sky every few nights, creating an ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the universe.

“I’ve been working on preparations for the Rubin Observatory for more than 20 years — starting before I came to Pitt,” said Newman “It’s tremendously exciting to have the concepts we were talking about then become a reality today.”

More recently, he’s been working with Research Assistant Professor Tianqing Zhang and Research Associate Professor Brett Andrews, developing tools to more accurately measure galaxy distances, turn Rubin’s images into 3D maps and improve the ability to detect changes between observations.

Wood-Vasey, on the other hand, has been collaborating with Research Assistant Professor Mi Dai on the search for a special kind of supernova, Type Ia, that may help answer questions about dark energy. He also worked with Google and graduate student Christopher Hernandez to develop a system to share data with anyone who is interested and has access to a computer.

“It is amazing and humbling to be here at this time and place as we start the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, after more than two decades of incredible work by our dedicated team,” Bob Blum, director of operations of the Rubin Observatory at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, said in a statement. “Rubin Observatory is for everyone; the LSST will change how we do astronomy and astrophysics, allowing researchers anywhere to participate in cutting-edge science.”

Wood-Vasey expressed similar excitement and awe. His graduate school research relied on fewer than 200 observations of Type Ia supernovae. Today, a student could take advantage of about 5,000 such observations. In a few years, LSST will have observed tens of thousands.

“It’s amazing and emotional to see the Rubin Observatory LSST begin,” he said. “This survey is for everyone, but also, it has been the focus of two decades of my career.”

“Still, while my research group is specifically looking forward to finding and studying hundreds of thousands of supernovae to explore the universe, we are even more excited about being a part of sharing the changing universe with everyone in real time.”