Rubin Observatory Plans for an Early Science Program

Abstract

This document outlines Rubin Observatory’s plans for a dedicated Early Science Program to enable high-impact science prior to the first annual data release of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Components of the Early Science Program include releasing science-grade commissioning data products via a series of “Data Previews,” ramping up of the transient alert stream during commissioning, implementing a program of incremental template generation to augment alert production in the early phases of the survey, and the first LSST Data Release, DR1, based on the first 6 months of data from the LSST. A detailed breakdown of which data products can be expected when is provided. The Rubin Operations team is working closely with the science community to optimize the Early Science Program for the time-domain and solar system science achievable in the first year of operations. This is a living document; both it and the Early Science Program will continue to evolve over the course of commissioning and pre-operations in response to the state of the as-built system and to community guidance.