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Epic: Rubin Observatory and 2026 ED138: the telescope, its pointing, and the sky it saw

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Assessment

Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Newbie friendliness
35/100
Issue type
Feature
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
javascript, three.js
Domain
computer-graphics

Research direction

Start with the design in js/scene/rubin/Rubin.md and the work already landed in #320 to understand the existing Rubin scene. The remaining work spans first-person viewing, target tracking, enclosure and dome models, observing cadence, and a portal asset service for Rubin images. Done means the observatory and visitor experience match the listed goals, with image delivery completed in its later phase.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

epic track:spacecraft

Track F (spacecraft and missions). The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory on Cerro Pachón following 2026 ED138, the first dwarf planet candidate found in its images (announced 2026-10-27): the body on JPL's orbit, the telescope as a model that points, a night of the discovery run from beside it, and, later, the sky it imaged. Design: js/scene/rubin/Rubin.md. The first set lands in #320.

Goal

Stand at Rubin, watch the Simonyi telescope track 2026 ED138 through a night of the run, and see what it saw: the arc on the sky that is Earth's own motion, and in time the images themselves over that patch.

Done when

The observatory's model moves as the real mount does, the visitor can sit beside the telescope and look along it with first-person controls, the object is the target and tracked, and the dome and enclosure are the real ones. The imagery over the pointing is a later phase, through a portal asset service.

Children

Done in #320:

  • 2026 ED138 as a body on JPL's elements, checked against Horizons
  • The observatory on Cerro Pachón with alt-az pointing, and the object's apparent path on the sky
  • The Rubin app: the panel, a night's run, the apps.rubin token
  • NOIRLab's telescope model on the mount (credit Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA)
  • A clouds toggle: the I key and the atmosphere section's switch

Next:

  • Watch the night from an astronomer's seat beside the telescope, looking along it
  • 2026 ED138 as the target, tracked, with field-of-view zooms checked to 47 au
  • A toggle for the enclosure and dome around the telescope
  • First-person controls around the telescope
  • The dome and enclosure from NOIRLab's complete scene (model3d003), decimated
  • Rubin's real cadence: visits and fields, not a stare
  • The sky it imaged: Rubin's pictures over the pointing, served through a portal asset service

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_017nj2dVhxJaC7G5wL5NmQhw

Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
55
Forks
4
Avg merge
9h 32m
Merged PRs (30d)
136

Getting set up

This project ships no dev container, Dockerfile or contributing guide, so setting up is up to you: start from its README, and see our first-contribution guide for the general steps.

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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