Vera Rubin Engineering – IEEE Spectrum

Vera c. Rubin ObservatoryIn Chile, a few months ago its first photon was seen, 25 years in making a monumental event. Senior editor Ivan Ekman’s visit to Chile, to see the observatory and talk about many more large -scale engineering challenges with the team, he took more than a year to plan himself.

The journey started by Italian photographer Enrico SechetiWho arranged for special access for binoculars. The story we wanted to tell more than a quick tour. So Saikcheti and Ekmanman arranged to spend three nights at the peak of Sero Pachon, sleeping during the day and then stayed late with engineers and scientists as they worked to get Rubin “on the sky”.

Ekmanman and Saikcheti did not know what they would do while living there. In some ways, they became lucky – first a few days filled with fennel activity before photon. In other ways, they were not so lucky. The dome covering the binoculars was not working, the moon (the ban of astronomers everywhere) was near Purna, and Sacheti came down with a disease, which was almost needed to empty it under the mountain.

“Spotting a viska near Observatory is a privilege to see that night.” -Wah Hi Ekmanman

“For 24 hours slightly nervous, I said to ensure the help of some amateur photographers among Rubin employees to ensure that we had all the photos that we need,” Ekmans. You can see some of their excellent work “How Rubin Observatory will strengthen astronomy.” And Sacchetti recovered sufficiently to get the important shots that wanted.

The same features that make sero Pachon the right place for observatories can make it a challenging place to work. For Sacchetti and Ackerman as well as Rubin employees, Schlepping took some adjustments until the summit of 2,600 meters above sea level. Ekmanman did not have a physical reaction to the height. But he learned that mentally, the thin air kills all in a different way.

“I discovered a complete incompetence in remembering the schedule,” Acarmen recalls. “William O’Moulene, the data-management project manager for Rubin, told me that for him, it is feeling that he knows the answer to a question, but what really the answer is.”

In addition to the scheduled interview with engineers and astronomers, the acroman joined the conversation around the control panel, which looked interesting. Rubin employees are not superstitious, but still heard some rumors involving local organisms.

Viscatach, which is a type of chinchilla, a rabbit size, is a good omen for astronomers in the Rubin Observatory.Ivan Ekmanman

He says, “Spotting a viscutch near the observatory is good luck to look at that night, as it should be. It looks like an aggressively cute cross between a squirrel and a rabbit, but it is technically a type of big chinchila,” they say. There are less cute Andian conders who live on rocks near the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope, which is also located on Sero Pachon. Seeing them in the air in the evening is a bad sign, Ekman was told, which could be somewhat really frozen, because the thermal who ride the conders affects the turbulent air around the mountain.

Even other “inauspicious” parts of the journey helped to improve the story. The full moon, while reinforcing the sky too much from the sky, burnt outside the observatory and as a result of some magnificent night photos. And temporarily Nonfunctional Dome said about several intensive interactions how difficult it is to all these Bispoke systems to work with each other, and helped Ekmanman to appreciate the complex job of commissioning engineers.