The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Data Preview 1

Abstract

We present Rubin Data Preview 1 DP1, the first data from the NSF DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory, comprising raw and calibrated single epoch images, coadds, difference images, detection catalogs, and ancillary data products. DP1 is based on 1792 optical near infrared exposures acquired over 48 distinct nights by the Rubin Commissioning Camera LSSTComCam on the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Summit Facility on Cerro Pachón Chile in late 2024. DP1 covers $\sim$15 deg$^2$ distributed across seven roughly equal-sized non-contiguous fields, each independently observed in six broad photometric bands $ugrizy$. The median FWHM of the point spread function across all bands is approximately 1.14 arcseconds, with the sharpest images reaching about 0.58 arcseconds. The 5$σ$ point source depths for coadded images in the deepest field the Extended Chandra Deep Field South are $u$ = 24.55, $g$ = 26.18, $r$ = 25.96, $i$ = 25.71, $z$ = 25.07, $y$ = 23.1. Other fields are no more than 2.2 magnitudes shallower in any band where they have nonzero coverage. DP1 contains approximately 2.3 million distinct astrophysical objects, of which 1.6 million are extended in at least one band in coadds and 431 solar system objects of which 93 are new discoveries. DP1 is approximately 3.5 TB in size and is available to Rubin data rights holders via the Rubin Science Platform a cloud based environment for the analysis of petascale astronomical data. While small compared to future LSST releases its high quality and diversity of data support a broad range of early science investigations ahead of full operations in 2026.

Figures (50)

• Figure 1: LSSTComCam focal plane layout illustrating the placement of its nine sensors, shown in gray, which form a raft. The view is looking down from above the focal plane through the lenses. is Raft 22 (R22). We also indicate the location of the LSSTCam sensors (open squares) to highlight the field-of-view of LSSTComCam in relation to that of LSSTCam.
• Figure 2: focal plane layout, showing Raft 22 (R22) and the placement and numbering scheme of sensors (S) and amplifiers (C). The view is from above, looking through the lenses onto the focal plane. Each sensor contains 16 amplifiers, and the raft is composed of a 3$\times$3 array of sensors. The detector number for each sensor is indicated in parentheses.
• Figure 3: standard bandpasses, illustrating full system throughput. The bandpasses include a standard atmosphere at airmass 1.2, telescope optics, camera surfaces, and mean detector quantum efficiency. The corresponding transmission curves are provided as a data product.
• Figure 4: Locations of the seven fields overlaid on the baseline survey footprint. NES: North Ecliptic Spur; SCP: South Celestial Pole; Low-Dust : regions away from the Galactic Plane (GP) observed with a cadence; GP/MC : Galactic Plane and Magellanic Clouds regions observed with a cadence. The fields of view of the and focal planes are shown as concentric yellow circles about the pointing center of each field. The background Milky Way dust map is based on the FDS model 1999ApJ...524..867F.
• Figure 5: DP1 fields and pointing centers with the number of exposures in each band per field. ICRS coordinates are in units of decimal degrees, and are specified as J2000.