Latest data updates for Vera C. Rubin Observatory / LSST Tracker.https://watchboard.dev/en-ushttps://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-09-22/https://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-09-22/No new confirmed developments since the Sep 19 check-in. The Simonyi Survey Telescope remains in its scheduled operations engineering downtime that began Sep 14; the most recent summit progress report (Sep 18) is still the latest available, with camera cooling restoration expected to complete and maintenance work resuming after the Sep 19–20 Fiestas Patrias holiday, but no newer weekly report or return-to-sky date has been published as of this check. A search across official Rubin/NOIRLab and community-forum channels, major outlets, and asteroid/funding trackers found no new data releases, discovery announcements, or budget developments in this window. Rubin-GC1, the survey's first globular cluster discovery reported Sep 14, continues to draw incidental science-communication coverage but no new peer-reviewed results.Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdailyhttps://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-09-19/https://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-09-19/The Simonyi Survey Telescope paused nightly observing on Sep 14 for its first previously scheduled operations engineering downtime since the Legacy Survey began; a Sep 18 summit progress report showed camera cooling, computing, and dome systems still mid-recovery, with no return-to-sky date yet set. Separately, a Rubin Observatory team (Pai, Cerny et al., Yale) posted a Sep 14 arXiv preprint describing Rubin-GC1, the survey's first globular cluster discovery — a faint, dust-obscured Milky Way satellite in Ophiuchus roughly 31 kiloparsecs away, likely accreted from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy's tidal stream and not yet peer-reviewed. Both items were added to the timeline; no changes to KPIs, map points, claims, or political figures this run.Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdailyhttps://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-09-08/https://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-09-08/No new data releases, asteroid batches, or funding developments were confirmed in the Sep 1–8 window despite multiple search strategies (institutional announcements, asteroid/TNO tracking, funding news, interstellar-object follow-up). The Aquarius IV ultra-faint dwarf galaxy find — reported in an August 4, 2026 preprint from Rubin's Early Data Preview 2 — continues to draw fresh science-communication coverage; an astrobites.org explainer published today was added as a supplementary source on that timeline entry. Early Data Preview 2's second phase (fuller processed and difference images) remains expected in the October–December 2026 window, and the observatory's first annual Data Release (DR1) remains targeted for mid-2028 based on a full first survey year of data.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTdailyhttps://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-08-31/https://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-08-31/Survey operations continue routinely from Cerro Pachón, with no new data releases, funding developments, or asteroid batches beyond what is already tracked in this window. The timeline was backfilled with the survey's first confirmed extragalactic discovery: an August 4, 2026 preprint by a Yale-led team reports Aquarius IV, an ultra-faint Milky Way satellite galaxy in the outer halo (~355,000 light-years away), identified in Rubin's Early Data Preview 2 photometry and independently confirmed in archival Dark Energy Camera imaging. Classification as a dwarf galaxy versus a globular cluster remains pending peer review. Early Data Preview 2's second phase (processed and difference images) remains expected in the October–December 2026 window.Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTdailyhttps://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-08-28/https://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-08-28/Routine nightly science operations continue from Cerro Pachón; no new asteroid batches, data releases, or funding developments were found in the Aug 21–28 window despite multiple search strategies. The timeline was backfilled with one previously missing milestone: NAOJ and Subaru Telescope's confirmation of Japan's ongoing LSST contributions (camera operations scientist Yousuke Utsumi stationed on-site, plus data-management and computing support from NAOJ, University of Tokyo, Chiba University, and Nagoya University). Early Data Preview 2's COSMOS mosaic (released early August) remains the most recent major data milestone, with the second EDP2 phase still expected in Q4 2026.Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTdailyhttps://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-08-23/https://watchboard.dev/vera-rubin-lsst/#digest-2026-08-23/No new confirmed developments since the last check-in on Aug 20. The observatory continues routine nightly science operations from Cerro Pachón, with the Early Data Preview 2 COSMOS mosaic (released early August) still the most recent major data milestone; the second EDP2 phase with processed and difference images remains expected in Q4 2026. A search across official Rubin/NOIRLab channels, major outlets, and the tracker's RSS sources found no new asteroid batches, data releases, or funding developments in this window.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTdaily