The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Simonyi Survey Telescope will photograph the entire visible sky every few nights, capturing everything from asteroids to distant galaxies in unprecedented detail. This matters because current telescopes cannot cover the sky both quickly and deeply at the same time. The LSST survey will fill a critical gap: it will spot moving objects like potentially hazardous asteroids, track variable stars, and map the structure of the Milky Way. It will also probe the nature of dark matter and dark energy by observing how they shape the universe on the largest scales. UK astronomers, organised through the LSST:UK Consortium, are contributing a substantial package of work—including a share of annual data processing, operating a Data Access Centre, and developing derived data products—to secure data rights for the entire UK community. If successful, this fundamental science programme will produce a vast, time-resolved map of the cosmos. While the primary impact is advancing knowledge, the same data infrastructure and software tools could eventually improve asteroid hazard monitoring, navigation systems, and large-scale data management techniques used in other fields.
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We propose a continuation of the programme enabling UK participation in the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), one of the most ambitious science projects planned for the next decade, and a key part of the astronomical landscape in the 2020s and 2030s. The Rubin Observatory's Simonyi Survey Telescope will have both a large collecting area and a wide field of view, giving it an etendue more than an order of magnitude larger than any current or planned facility. This will enable it to survey the whole visible sky every few days, leading to both a stacked sky survey of great depth, and the ability to find moving, variable, and transient objects. It will make advances over a large range of science, from Potentially Hazardous Asteroids, through the structure of the Milky Way, to the most distant quasars, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy - all areas where UK astronomers stand poised to make leading contributions. The breadth of LSST science led to the formation, in 2014, of the LSST:UK Consortium, which comprises every astronomy group in the UK. The Consortium defined a four-phase programme for the LSST:UK Science Centre (LUSC), which would prepare for, and, subsequently, support scientific exploitation of LSST data by the UK community. STFC has funded the first two phases of this programme, and the current proposal seeks funding for the third (Phase C). US agencies are funding the construction of the Rubin Observatory and the bulk of the cost of Rubin operations, with international partners earning data rights through in-kind contributions to Rubin operations and most of the LUSC Phase C programme now comprises components of the UK's in-kind package. This package consists of three main strands of work: 1. Taking a 25% share of the annual Data Release Processing workload; 2. Operating a Data Access Centre; and 3. Developing software to generate derived data products for use by the international LSST Science Collaborations. These three significant strands of work, together with a few smaller activities, comprise a substantial contribution to Rubin operations, which we hope will secure LSST data rights for the whole UK community and earn the UK a place as an International Affiliate Partner in the Rubin operations consortium.
Andy Lawrence (Co-Investigator)Colin Snodgrass (Co-Investigator)Joseph Zuntz (Co-Investigator)Peter Clarke (Co-Investigator)Robert Mann (Principal Investigator)
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