Dr. Shreya Anand, LSST-DA Catalyst Postdoctoral Fellow,
Kavli Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), Stanford University.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of
Space and Time (LSST) will begin surveying the
Southern sky later this year, creating a paradigm shift
in the field of high-energy astrophysics. Rubin's
LSST is expected to yield several million alerts
(changes in brightness) per night, presenting a
significant big data challenge. Many of these alerts
are caused by transients - astronomical explosions
that brighten and fade quickly over time - happening
both in our galaxy and in other distant galaxies. The
study of transients connects to a broad range of
subfields across astronomy including the study of
stellar evolution, galaxies, and astro-chemistry.