Time-domain Astronomy with Small Aperture Telescopes in the Rubin Era
We are in the dawn of a new era for time-domain astronomy as the Rubin Observatory will increase the rate of observed transient events by more than an order of magnitude. While many new efforts will be focused on LSST, whatever cadence the survey ultimately adopts will be to the detriment of some TDA science (nothing can ever be truly synoptic). In the runup to LSST the TDA community has developed tons of (highly successful!) infrastructure on smaller aperture telescopes over the past two decades. This raises an interesting question: what is the role of these small aperture telescopes once Rubin starts? Rubin is expensive, so an argument could be made for phasing out such work. Or these systems could be re-deployed to work in concert with Rubin, or redirected to produce orthogonal time-domain observations.
The aim of this meeting is to bring together researchers in time-domain astronomy to discuss potential strategies and synergies for different small aperture facilities once Rubin begins routine operation. The meeting will be primarily focused on discussion, with the aim of developing new plans (complementing and competing with Rubin) using small telescopes.
Schedule
Friday, October 21, 2022
09:00 – 09:15 o Coffee & Pastries
09:15 – 09:30 o Welcome and workshop overview: A. Miller
09:15 – 09:45 o Summary of new and future small aperture facilities; multiple speakers
09:45 – 10:30 o DISCUSSION: Complementing Rubin with small aperture telescopes
10:30 – 11:00 o BREAK
11:00 – 12:00 o DISCUSSION: Science orthogonal to Rubin with small aperture telescopes
12:00 – 01:30 o LUNCH
01:30 – 03:00 o Breakout working groups
03:00 – 04:00 o Report from breakouts and meeting summary