By Amelia Kim, UW News Lab
Fifteen years ago, Sarah Greenstreet was a graduate student when she first learned about the Rubin Observatory. Now she’s contributing to the mass discoveries that the observatory is expected to produce.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will provide scientists with detailed images by surveying the sky for 10 years, bringing in information on asteroids, supernovas, and even another possible planet in our solar system, according to Greenstreet.
As the Rubin Observatory gears up for its first light – the first image and viewing of the sky – Greenstreet, an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Astronomy Department at the University of Washington and Assistant Astronomer at NSF NOIRLab is contributing to the observatory’s preparations as a member of the Rubin Community Science Team and as a Lead for the Rubin Solar System Science Collaboration, both of which are working to prepare scientists for the survey of the sky through data, software tools, and recommendations for the survey.
With the telescope having one of the largest digital cameras that has ever been built, the telescope will allow scientists to make many new discoveries.
“I’ve been hearing about the Rubin observatory for so long, and I’ve been a part of the Solar System Science collaboration for about five years now as well, that now getting to be a part of the Rubin Project Team has been really exciting,” Greenstreet said.
Beginning her undergraduate studies at Western Washington University in 2003, Greenstreet pursued a Bachelor’s of Science degree in physics.
“Sarah was one of those people that was worth listening to. She wasn’t always the person who was going to be the loudest, but she had amazing things to say and and I really, really enjoyed working with her,” Kristen Larson, a professor that Greenstreet worked on a research project with at WWU, said.
As Greenstreet went on to pursue her career even further, she attended the University of British Columbia for graduate studies for her masters and PhD in astronomy, discovering that she was interested in orbital dynamics, the change in small bodies and asteroids’ orbits due to the interaction of planets’ gravity, similar to what she is working with currently for the Rubin Observatory.
“It was not a subject I had ever been introduced to before, but there was something about it that I found just simply fascinating… it completely blew my mind, and so I just, I couldn’t, at that point, imagine doing anything else,” Greenstreet said.
Learning about various topics in astronomy and even applying computer programming into her works, Greenstreet was always curious to learn more about the world above the Earth and determined to find answers.
“Sarah showed a lot of ability to adapt and pursue interesting things, and she’s continued to do that all through her career, since she left UBC,” Brett Gladman, Greenstreet’s previous professor and PhD advisor from UBC, said.
Despite having little research experience headed into grad school, she was proactive in finding research and lab opportunities, including working in a biology lab to gain experience and to further her career, according to Maggie Fuqua, Greenstreet’s friend and former roommate at WWU.
“I think she’s wired to be a searcher, and then once she finds something, really head in that direction with a lot of discipline,” Larson said.
Heading into the year of the first light for the Rubin Observatory, Greenstreet has been working on compiling code tutorials and documentation to analyze expected data, and educational materials to prepare scientists once the observatory is ready.
Greenstreet also studies near earth objects like asteroids and their orbits.
“The Rubin Observatory has multiple, very different science goals, ranging from inventorying the solar system to studying dark matter. Both the Rubin Project Team and the Science Collaborations have been working together to try to make sure that the cadence in which the telescope is going to be taking pictures of the sky, will be done in a way that will help make sure that each of the astronomy science goals are accomplished,” Greenstreet said.
As the Rubin Observatory starts its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), the telescope will take pictures every three days of the southern hemisphere sky, according to Greenstreet. She said they expect to discover another five million small bodies, such as comets and asteroids in the solar system.
“The Rubin observatory is going to increase what we’ve been able to find so far over the last 200 plus years of discovery by a factor of five, which is just completely incredible with just how much data we’re going to get,” Greenstreet said.
Greenstreet said she is passionate about making information from the telescope’s discoveries available in ways that the public can understand.
“Of course, many of the things that we as scientists discover and we talk about, we know all of the little, tiny, ridiculous details about things that we’ve spent a good chunk of our lives trying to be able to understand, but most people don’t understand a lot of the words that we use on a regular basis, so it’s our responsibility to share our knowledge with people in a way they understand” said Greenstreet.
Greenstreet said she is excited to see what data will be produced from the observatory.
“I think we’ve all been collectively holding our breath,” Greenstreet said. “We’re all poised and excited to be able to be doing [this science], and then beginning to share it with each other and with the world as well, I think it’s just an incredibly exciting time.”