Welcome to the first edition of DiRAC’s newsletter in 2024! As we kick off the Spring quarter, we’re excited to share updates highlighting the achievements and outreach efforts of our outstanding team members. These include an announcement of discoveries of numerous active asteroids by thousands of citizen scientists led by Colin Chandler (LINCC postdoctoral scientist at DiRAC), a new paper by J-F Crenshaw (graduate student at DiRAC) describing how AI can be used to control the shape of telescope mirrors and increase its effective resolution, and a recognition with the Buchalter Prize of a novel space-measurement technique devised by Kyle Boone (fmr. DiRAC Fellow) and Matt McQuinn (UW Astronomy Professor).
Your support is what makes work like this, and the education that precedes it, possible at DiRAC. In just a few days, on April 4th, we invite you to support DiRAC’s student-focused research program on Husky Giving Day. Additionally, mark your calendar for June 12th, when you’ll have another chance to engage with UW astronomers at the DiRAC Planetarium Experience. Our researchers will share some of the recent discoveries, and update us on the first images we expect from the Rubin Observatory later in the summer. Then join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of the labs, usually hidden from the public eye, where we explore the mysteries of comet dust.
This season, we’ve had no shortage of discoveries and awards – delve into the articles here for more details. We hope you enjoy reading about them and feel inspired to join us in person at the next DiRAC event.
Thank you,
Mario Juric Director, DiRAC Institute Professor, Department of Astronomy
Your contribution on Husky Giving Day is a catalyst for a student-centered initiative led by DiRAC and the Department of Astronomy! Make a gift today!
The “Summer Research Prize” program bridges the gap between enthusiastic undergraduate students and dedicated faculty researchers. This collaboration cultivates innovation, allowing them to work together on cutting-edge projects that span the vast and fascinating field of astronomy.
Programs like this accelerate and deepen student research engagement, particularly for those from non-traditional pathways. Your support makes our outreach, education, and fundamental research possible. Thank you for playing a crucial role in our journey!
We are excited to sustain and expand this program, and it’s your continued support that fuels its success.
Katelyn Ebert (Advisor: Prof. Matt McQuinn): Precision Measurement of the Hubble Constant with Fast Radio Bursts
“The Summer Research Prize was pivotal in facilitating my student’s research over the summer, which laid the foundation for an innovative space telescope concept now supported by NASA for further exploration.”
Prof. Matthew J McQuinn, Advisor 2023
Benjamin Herrera, Bowang Lan, John Delker, Celeste Hagee, Katelyn Ebert, and Andy Tzanidakis
“The Husky Giving Day is momentous for our UW Astronomy community as it provides the means for us to make profound discoveries about our universe at the DiRAC institute”
The Rubin Observatory will use a sophisticated auto-focus system (i.e., active optics) to enable the fast cadence and high image quality required for its groundbreaking ten year survey of the southern sky.
This system must operate with higher speed and deliver higher precision than what has been necessary for previous wide-field surveys which limits the applicability of existing state-of-the-art active optics algorithms. In this work we design a new algorithm which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate and increase the predictive power of the active optics system in a wide variety of observing conditions which the Rubin Observatory will face
He works with Professor Andy Connolly and UW scientists Bryce Kalmbach and Chris Suberlak on building the active optics pipeline for the Vera Rubin Observatory.
Published paper in February 2024, it can be found here.
Abstract
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will, over a period of 10 yr, repeatedly survey the southern sky. To ensure that images generated by Rubin meet the quality requirements for precision science, the observatory will use an active-optics system (AOS) to correct for alignment and mirror surface perturbations introduced by gravity and temperature gradients in the optical system.
To accomplish this, Rubin will use out-of-focus images from sensors located at the edge of the focal plane to learn and correct for perturbations to the wave front. We have designed and integrated a deep-learning (DL) model for wave-front estimation into the AOS pipeline. In this paper, we compare the performance of this DL approach to Rubin’s baseline algorithm when applied to images from two different simulations of the Rubin optical system. We show the DL approach is faster and more accurate, achieving the atmospheric error floor both for high-quality images and low-quality images with heavy blending and vignetting. Compared to the baseline algorithm, the DL model is 40× faster, the median error 2× better under ideal conditions, 5× better in the presence of vignetting by the Rubin camera, and 14× better in the presence of blending in crowded fields. In addition, the DL model surpasses the required optical quality in simulations of the AOS closed loop.
This system promises to increase the survey area useful for precision science by up to 8%. We discuss how this system might be deployed when commissioning and operating Rubin.
Last year (in 2023), Kyle and Matt devised a new method for measuring cosmological distances to fast radio bursts using the differences in wavefront arrival times as measured by extremely long baseline interferometry. The technique requires spacecrafts floating at the opposing ends of the Solar System and thus years away. But someday, a system like they describe will yield unprecedentedly accurate, sub-percent, constraints on cosmological parameters and also a new, independent way, to measure the Hubble constant.
The Buchalter Cosmology Prize seeks to stimulate ground-breaking theoretical, observational, or experimental work in cosmology that has the potential to produce a breakthrough advance in our understanding. It was created to support the development of new theories, observations, or methods, that can help illuminate the puzzle of cosmic expansion from first principles.
A Treasure Trove of Discoveries Revealed in New Article by Zooniverse Project Active Asteroids
In an innovative exploration that intertwines the realms of astronomy and Citizen Science, a new publication unveils the first results of the Active Asteroids Citizen Science Program. Spearheaded by Colin Orion Chandler (DiRAC Institute, University of Washington) and a formidable team of researchers, this initiative has embarked on an audacious mission: to enlist the help of the public in uncovering the secrets of our solar system’s elusive active asteroids. These intriguing celestial bodies, akin to asteroids with comet-like tails or comae, have long captivated scientists and enthusiasts alike. Yet, their rarity and the challenge of identification have shrouded them in mystery.
Figure 1: The 16 active object discoveries made by the Active Asteroids program. Each panel shows an object at the center, with a tail or coma (dust cloud) emanating from that object. (Image Credit: Henry Hsieh)
Harnessing the power of NASA’s partnership and the online Citizen Science platform Zooniverse, the project has made significant strides since its launch in August 2021. With over 9,000 volunteers participating, the collective effort has scrutinized approximately 500,000 images from the vast archives of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), an instrument on the Blanco 4-meter telescope atop Cerro Tololo, Chile. This massive undertaking has not only democratized scientific research in the study of active asteroids but has also led to the identification of previously unknown activity in 16 solar system bodies (Figure 1) — findings that are improving our understanding of the solar system. Furthermore, the program has unearthed activity in known objects during previous orbital epochs, offering new insights into their behavior and classification.
The success of the Active Asteroids Citizen Science Program exemplifies the transformative potential of Citizen Science in astronomical research. It highlights how the collective effort of volunteers, armed with curiosity and supported by cutting-edge technology, can uncover secrets of the cosmos. Notably, nine of the paper’s authors are themselves Citizen Scientsits from the Active Asteroids project. “For me, Active Asteroids present an opportunity to contribute to science through professional methods,” said Virgilio Gonano, a Citizen Scientist author from Udine, Italy. “I can interact directly with both professional and amateur astronomers. For an amateur astronomer like me, it’s a dream come true!
As the program continues to unveil new discoveries, it invites us all to ponder our place in the expanse of our own solar system and beyond. Anyone interested can participate today in the ongoing endeavor by visiting http://activeasteroids.net.
LINCC Frameworks Project Scientist and Postdoctoral Scholar
DiRAC Institute and the University of Washington
coc123@uw.edu
1 206 543 2888
About the DiRAC Institute
The University of Washington’s Institute for Data-Intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology (DiRAC) brings together the diversity of expertise — from astrophysics, data science, to software engineering — needed to build the world’s most advanced datasets and algorithms, and use them to explore and understand the universe. DiRAC scientists play a major role in the construction of Rubin Observatory and the development of next-generation software tools through the LINCC program. Learn more at https://dirac.astro.washington.edu/.
