Good Idea
Let’s bring big data astronomy to everyone
Empowering people to participate in 21st century scientific discovery.
Good idea
Let’s bring big data astronomy to everyone
Empowering people to participate in 21st century scientific discovery.
Good idea
Let’s bring big data astronomy to everyone
Empowering people to participate in 21st century scientific discovery.
Innovate
Big Data
Science
Education

Vera C. Rubin Observatory

In 2022, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins a ten-year project to continuously capture and analyze high-resolution images of the night sky. The telescope will provide professional scientists, educators, and astronomy lovers with new rich data that will inspire scientific insights.

From the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile, Rubin Observatory will send 15TB of nightly observations to astronomers around the world, enabling new discoveries in areas as diverse as the detection of Near Earth Objects and understanding the role of Dark Energy and Dark Matter in the origins of the Universe.



How do we make a complex domain accessible to novice users?
It is Astrophysics

And for non-professionals, astronomy is a hobby, a delight and a way of seeing the Universe beyond our small blue planet.

To make Big Data Astronomy accessible to novice audiences, we worked with the EPO team, Rubin Observatory scientists, and EPO audiences to identify and create content, visualizations, and interactive experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating Rubin Observatory discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

 

How do we cultivate our community and fuel its growth?
Sustained exploration & discovery

Starting with the prompt “I want to…” we utilized service design methods to align people’s aspirations to belong to the LSST community with their interests, access methods, and capabilities.

We created tangible steps for teachers to use Rubin Observatory data in classrooms, teens to connect with scientists, artists to visualize new imagery, and the general public to become citizen scientists. Experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating Rubin Observatory discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

How do we cultivate our community and fuel its growth?
Sustained exploration & discovery

Starting with the prompt “I want to…” we utilized service design methods to align people’s aspirations to belong to the Rubin Observatory community with their interests, access methods, and capabilities.

We created tangible steps for teachers to use Rubin Observatory data in classrooms, teens to connect with scientists, artists to visualize new imagery, and the general public to become citizen scientists. Experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating Rubin Observatory discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

How do we cultivate our community and fuel its growth?
Sustained exploration & discovery

Starting with the prompt “I want to…” we utilized service design methods to align people’s aspirations to belong to the Rubin Observatory community with their interests, access methods, and capabilities.

We created tangible steps for teachers to use Rubin Observatory data in classrooms, teens to connect with scientists, artists to visualize new imagery, and the general public to become citizen scientists. Experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating Rubin Observatory discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

How do we prepare for a future that we can’t fully predict until the telescope becomes operational?
Solid foundation & ready for anything

This project’s guiding principles and validated prototypes represent our deep understanding of people’s fundamental needs and aspirations in astronomy.

The user experience framework intentionally prepares the Vera C. Rubin Observatory EPO team to continue to realize emergent opportunities for connection and education throughout the operation of the telescope, create content, visualizations and interactive experiences that support people of all skill and experience levels in appreciating Rubin Observatory discoveries, growing their knowledge, and actively participating in scientific exploration.

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