Challenges and solutions for the LSST DSFP 2023.
These will only work in the Rubin Science Platform (RSP) deployed at the Interim Data Facility (IDF) for Data Preview 0 (DP0), at data.lsst.cloud. These will only work with the DP0.2 data release.
Particular resources are given in each challenge, but generally all of them are in the DP0.2 documentation, including instructions for the Rubin Science Platform, the contents of the DP0.2 data release (and the DP0.2 catalog schema browser), and various DP0.2 tutorials.
Work in pairs, with one of you as the driver and the other as the navigator.
Driver: Has Rubin data rights and is logged in to their account in the Rubin Science Platform at data.lsst.cloud. See the "Getting started with DP0 checklist" for how to get an RSP account.
Navigator: Accesses the DP0.2 documentation, data product schemas, does the Google searches, etc. Data rights and an RSP account are not needed.
Pick any that interest you. They are not sequential.
Challenges come with limited instructions so you have to figure things out for yourself.
Peaking at the solutions is totally fine! Have fun.
They are designed to help learn about the Rubin Science Platform and the Data Preview 0 format and contents, not necessarily to learn about data science.
If for any reason the challenges aren't working for you, feel free to try these alternatives.
If you're completely new to Jupyter Notebooks, consider running through
the first tutorial in the notebooks/tutorial-notebooks/ folder first.
Work through this set of little RSP demos (~10 min each).
Work through a full DP0 tutorial (30-60 min each).
These challenges are brand new for the DSFP 2023. At the end of the session, discuss how well they functioned as learning tools.
Consider emailing Melissa Graham with your thoughts.
Last verified to run: Sun Jul 11 2023
Knowing only the approximate coordinates of a particularly bright galaxy (Waldo),
find it in the Object catalog.
Given the central coordinates of a rich galaxy cluster, make a color-magnitude diagram.
Be a good friend and check if LSST knows whether a star is variable.
Last verified to run: Sun Jul 11 2023
Recommended RSP image: Weekly 2023_21
Container size: large
Use the plotting package datashader to make an interactive plot of a million or more data points.