Introduction to the RSP Notebook Aspect¶
The Notebook aspect enables scientific analysis in a web browser by running Jupyter Notebooks and shell scripts. The Notebook aspect is powered by JupyterLab.
Most RSP users will find Jupyter Notebooks to be the most efficient and powerful way to interact with the LSST data sets.
Always save and shutdown all notebooks and log out of JupyterLab when done with a work session. This is important to preserve resources for other users and to ensure re-entry to the RSP in a known state every time. To help users avoid issues with stale instances, sessions will be automatically shut-down after 5 days of inactivity, or after 25 days.
Conceptual overview¶
The RSP Notebook Aspect offers a variety of functionality, including:
Python scripts
access and analyze data in the cloud
terminal and iPython interface
stable software environment
pre-installed LSST Science Pipelines
shared disk space
The pages within this guide, listed below, illustrate how to do RSP Notebook Aspect activities, from logging in, to using Jupyter Notebooks, to learning from Rubin/LSST tutorial notebooks, to accessing LSST Science Pipelines software, and logging out.
This guide focuses on the basic instructions for using the RSP Notebook Aspect, and a few frequently asked questions (FAQs) and troubleshooting tips. The full documentation for the RSP Notebook Aspect is available at nb.lsst.io.
User support¶
Get support at any time via the Rubin Observatory Community Forum or via GitHub Issues. Another option is to attend the Rubin Science Assemblies which will feature live tutorials and question-and-answer time with Rubin Observatory staff.
Beginner-level questions are very welcome, both in the Community Forum and during the Rubin Science Assemblies. To encourage questions in the Forum, a couple of beginner-level topics have been started to share resources for learning python and SQL. People new to the Rubin Community Forum might appreciate this video demonstrating how to navigate and post topics to the forum.