A Higher Cadence Subsurvey Located in the Galactic Plane

Abstract

Presently, the Galactic plane receives relatively few observations compared to most of the LSST footprint. While this may address static science, the plane will also represent the highest density of variable Galactic sources. The proper characterization of variability of these sources will benefit greatly from observations at a higher cadence.

Rubin Observatory LSST Transients and Variable Stars Roadmap

“…Since even an Earthsized planet transiting a white dwarf will block a significant amount of light, these events will be detectable with only a few points in transit. The ability of Rubin LSST to detect transiting planets around white dwarfs has been preliminarly explored in both Cortés & Kipping (2019) and Lund et al (2018b).…”

“…The majority of these strategies are referred to as "microsurveys," as they require a relatively small telescope time commitment (<3% of total survey time) to generate a significant scientific return. However, numerous White Paper authors presented scientific motivations for increasing the number of visits Rubin dedicates to the Galactic Plane (Gonzalez et al 2018;Lund et al 2018aLund et al , 2018bPrisinzano et al 2018;Strader et al 2018;Street et al 2018b) relative to the original implementation. The survey regions and cadence strategies proposed by these authors overlapped sufficiently well to motivate the exploration of a common strategy for the time-series monitoring of a significant area in the Galactic Plane.…”