Session 24

The Twenty-Fourth session of the LSST Discovery Alliance Data Science Fellowship Program focuses on Image Processing for Wide Field Surveys

Session 24 was held from September 15-19, 2025 at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL. Lectures were delivered by:

• Dr. Alex Drlica-Wagner, University of Chicago & Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
• Dr. Colin Slater, University of Washington
• Dr. Erin Kado-Fong, Yale University
• Dr. Laura Trouille, Adler Planetarium
• Dr. Bryan Scott, CIERA/Northwestern University

Day 1 – Introduction to Imaging and Instrument Signal Removal

"I have looked further into space than ever human being did before me.”

~ William Herschel

-- Monday, September 15 2025

• 09:00 AM – 09:15 AM o Welcome to Session 24, Logistics, Icebreakers
• 09:15 AM - 09:30 AM o Overview of Imaging and Wide Field Surveys; B Scott
• 09:30 AM – 10:30 AM o Pedagogy I: Curriculum Design and Learning Objectives; B Scott
• 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM o BREAK
• 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM o Lecture: Introduction to CCDs; A Drlica-Wagner
• 12:00 PM – 01:30 PM o LUNCH
• 01:30 PM – 03:00 PM o Problem | Solution: Introduction to CCDs; A Drlica-Wagner
• 03:00 PM – 04:00 PM o Lecture: Instrument Signature Removal; C Slater
• 04:00 PM – 04:30 PM o Break
• 04:30 PM – 06:00 PM o Problem | Solution: Instrument Signature Removal; C Slater
• 06:30 PM - 08:30 PM o Session Dinner at AO Hawaiian Hideout Directions from Adler

Day 2 – Astrometry and Point Source Photometry

"Pròs tèn Eratosthénous geographían"

~ Hipparchus (c. 120 BCE)

-- Tuesday, September 16 2025

• 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM o Teaching Practice I: Writing Learning Objectives; B Scott
• 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM o BREAK
• 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM o Lecture: Point Source Photometry; C Slater
• 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM o LUNCH
• 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM o Problem | Solution: Point Source Photometry; C Slater
• 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM o BREAK
• 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM o Lecture: Introduction to Astrometry; A Drlica-Wagner
• 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM o Problem | Solution: Introduction to Astrometry; A Drlica-Wagner

Day 3 — Image Stacking and Differencing

"[She was] thoroughly acquainted with the periods of the full moon when it is subject to eclipse, and, knowing beforehand the time when the moon was due to be overtaken by the earth’s shadow, imposed upon the women, and made them all believe that she was drawing down the moon.”

~ Plutarch in reference to Aglaonice of Thessaly (c. 100 CE)

-- Wednesday, September 17 2025

• 09:00 AM – 10:00 AM o Pedagogy II: Educational Theory and Scaffolding; B Scott
• 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM o BREAK
• 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM o Teaching Practice II: Guided Discovery; B Scott
• 12:00 PM – 01:30 PM o LUNCH
• 01:30 PM – 02:30 PM o Lecture: Tiling, stacking and difference imaging; E Kado-Fong
• 02:30 PM – 04:00 PM o Problem | Solution: Tiling, stacking and difference imaging; E Kado-Fong
• 04:00 PM - 04:30 PM o Professional Development: People-Powered Research and a Path Beyond Academia; L Trouille
• 04:30 PM – 05:00 PM o Hack Pitch

Day 4 — Photometry of Extended Sources

"Keep up the good work, if only for a while, if only for the twinkling of a tiny galaxy."

~ Wislawa Szymborska, poet and recipeient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature

-- Thursday, September 18 2025

• 09:00 AM – 10:00 AM o Lecture: Extended source photometry; E Kado-Fong
• 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM o Break
• 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM o Problem | Solution: Extended source photometry; E Kado-Fong
• 12:00 PM – ??:?? PM o BREAK

Day 5 — Teaching Development and Hack Session

"For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream."

~ Vincent Van Gogh

-- Friday, September 19 2025

• 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM o Pedagogy III/Teaching Practice III: Rubrics and Assessment; B Scott
• 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM o BREAK
• 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM o Hack Session
• 11:30 AM – 01:00 PM o LUNCH
• 1:00 PM – 01:15 PM o Group Photo
• 01:15 PM – 03:30 PM o Hack Session
• 03:30 PM - 04:00 PM o Hack Presentations
• 04:00 PM – 04:30 PM o End of Session Survey
• 04:30 PM – 05:00 PM o Closing Remarks