Keynote Speaker

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Dr. Sandrine J. Thomas is the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Rubin Associate Director for Summit Operation, leading the team responsible to acquire all the data needed for the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). This includes raw images, calibration data as well as the telemetry data.

Dr Thomas’ main expertise is in physical optics, active/adaptive optics and coronagraphy as well as fostering a healthy workplace culture. She mostly worked on instruments and telescopes located on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile (CTIO, SOAR and Gemini before Rubin). Other appointments include postdocs at the University of Santa Cruz and NASA Ames. Her PhD is from University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.

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Aligning Vera C. Rubin Observatory
to reveal the mysteries of the universe.

A new telescope on a mountaintop in Chile just began a 10 years survey that could transform our understanding of the universe. The Vera C Rubin Observatory, named for the astronomer who found conclusive evidence for the existence of mysterious dark matter in the universe, uses the largest digital camera ever built and a fast telescope to document anything that changes in the southern sky over time, from asteroids and comets in our solar system to variable stars, supernova explosions, and interstellar objects. The resulting ultra-high-definition time-lapse map of billions of celestial objects could provide insights into the nature of dark matter and dark energy--the enigmatic force that appears to be driving galaxies apart at an accelerating pace—and perhaps yet-to-be discovered cosmic phenomena. To enable all these discoveries, the Rubin Machine (Telescope and Camera) needs to be aligned and stay aligned to a high-level precision. 

In this presentation, I will discuss the Rubin Observatory’s goals, as well as the history of the high precision construction and alignment of the full system.  

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Sandrine Thomas
Associate Director for Rubin Summit Operations
https://rubinobservatory.org/
sandrine.thomas@noirlab.edu