# Announcements

**URL:** https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/c/announcements/5.md

[Latest](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/latest.md) · [Categories](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/categories.md) · [Tags](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/tags.md)

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## [About the Announcements category](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/about-the-announcements-category/18)

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**Author:** [@fornax-staff](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/fornax-staff)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [March 28, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/about-the-announcements-category/18 "2025-03-28T22:10:13Z")

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This is the place to find news and announcements from NASA’s Fornax Initiative.

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## [Brief Fornax Downtime: Saturday, Oct. 17, 2 PM EDT](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/brief-fornax-downtime-saturday-oct-17-2-pm-edt/1586)

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**Author:** [@gailr](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/gailr)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [October 16, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/brief-fornax-downtime-saturday-oct-17-2-pm-edt/1586 "2026-10-16T18:07:10Z")

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The Fornax Science Console will be down for scheduled maintenance on: Saturday, Oct. 17 2:00 PM EDT approx. 30 minutes Please log off prior to then, as user sessions will be disrupted. Check back after 2:30 PM EDT. W…

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## [Faster Firefly and New OpenUniverse2024 Resources](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/faster-firefly-and-new-openuniverse2024-resources/1547)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [October 2, 2026, 7:31am UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/faster-firefly-and-new-openuniverse2024-resources/1547 "2026-10-02T07:31:53Z")

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Welcome to October! Fornax is happy to announce a faster Firefly and new resources for OpenUniverse2024 simulated data. Before we dive in, we wanted to let you know that we’re aware of an issue causing the terminal to l…

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## [Guide to fix custom user-installed environments missing from notebook kernel selection](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/guide-to-fix-custom-user-installed-environments-missing-from-notebook-kernel-selection/1521)

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**Author:** [@djturner](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/djturner)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [September 22, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/guide-to-fix-custom-user-installed-environments-missing-from-notebook-kernel-selection/1521 "2026-09-22T16:03:25Z")

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A recent change to Fornax means that any custom environments you created using the setup-pip-env or setup-conda-env tools may be missing from the list of kernels you can choose from when creating or running a notebook. …

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## [Emergency Fornax Update - 2000 Hours EST](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/emergency-fornax-update-2000-hours-est/1491)

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**Author:** [@asawyers](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/asawyers)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [September 17, 2026, 11:49pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/emergency-fornax-update-2000-hours-est/1491 "2026-09-17T23:49:20Z")

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We apologize for the short notice. An emergency bug fix is being deployed. Most users will not see any impact; however, if you are currently running a notebook, it may be shut down and will need to be restarted. We apolo…

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## [Hands-On OpenUniverse2024 Roman/Rubin Simulations Workshop, Fornax User Panel, and Scratch Storage](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/hands-on-openuniverse2024-roman-rubin-simulations-workshop-fornax-user-panel-and-scratch-storage/1214)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [August 20, 2026, 8:41am UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/hands-on-openuniverse2024-roman-rubin-simulations-workshop-fornax-user-panel-and-scratch-storage/1214 "2026-08-20T08:41:29Z")

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Important dates: August 21 (Friday): Fornax User Panel nominations due August 31: OpenUniverse2024 workshop registration deadline Hands-On Science with OpenUniverse2024 Roman and Rubin Simulations Join us for this fre…

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## [Help Shape the Future of Fornax](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/help-shape-the-future-of-fornax/1129)

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**Author:** [@gailr](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/gailr)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [July 31, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/help-shape-the-future-of-fornax/1129 "2026-07-31T21:26:44Z")

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Dear user of NASA Astrophysics cloud compute, We are convening a User Panel composed of researchers from the community to give us feedback on the Fornax. We would like to invite you to nominate yourself or others\*\* to p…

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## [Manage Scratch Storage from the Dashboard](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/manage-scratch-storage-from-the-dashboard/1109)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [July 27, 2026, 5:10pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/manage-scratch-storage-from-the-dashboard/1109 "2026-07-27T17:10:07Z")

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You can now manage your own scratch storage space directly from the Fornax Dashboard! Scratch storage is a working area for large data in cases where your S3 storage isn’t performant enough and your home directory is too…

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## [New Fornax Features, HATS Catalogs, and Notebooks](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/new-fornax-features-hats-catalogs-and-notebooks/1083)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [July 20, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/new-fornax-features-hats-catalogs-and-notebooks/1083 "2026-07-20T18:40:46Z")

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This month: Curated notebooks from MAST, HEASARC, and IRSA are now available directly on Fornax. New HATS Catalogs for GALEX and Hubble, and updates for PanSTARRS. New notebooks for moving object searches and ZTF light…

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## [Fornax Science Console down from 5-6 PM EDT](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/fornax-science-console-down-from-5-6-pm-edt/1044)

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**Author:** [@gailr](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/gailr)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [July 6, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/fornax-science-console-down-from-5-6-pm-edt/1044 "2026-07-06T21:06:02Z")

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Hello, The Fornax Science Console will be down from 5-6 PM EDT today for implementation of NASA-mandated infrastructure. After 6 PM EDT you should be able to login again. If you experience difficulties after that, pleas…

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## [Hands-on Fornax at AAS - Register by June 12!](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/hands-on-fornax-at-aas-register-by-june-12/947)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [June 1, 2026, 8:41am UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/hands-on-fornax-at-aas-register-by-june-12/947 "2026-06-01T08:41:15Z")

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Join us at the AAS meeting in Pasadena, California this month for “An Introduction to Fornax” workshop and several other Fornax-related events! See Fornax Initiative at the 248th AAS Meeting for details. Late registrat…

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## [New HATS Catalogs, High Energy Analysis Support, and Notebook Tutorials](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/new-hats-catalogs-high-energy-analysis-support-and-notebook-tutorials/937)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [May 28, 2026, 8:27am UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/new-hats-catalogs-high-energy-analysis-support-and-notebook-tutorials/937 "2026-05-28T08:27:33Z")

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Announcing HATS data products for DELVE, SDSS, DES, DESI, and ZTF; analysis tools on Fornax for high energy spectra, images, and tables; SPHEREx Mosaic tool + tutorial and SPLICES catalog; and OpenUniverse2024 data acces…

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## [System Downtime this Saturday, May 16](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/system-downtime-this-saturday-may-16/904)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [May 16, 2026, 2:49pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/system-downtime-this-saturday-may-16/904 "2026-05-16T14:49:05Z")

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The Fornax Science Console will be unavailable for a short period this Saturday, May 16, while we complete system upgrades. The downtime will begin at 8am EDT and is expected to last for 2 hours. Thank you for your patie…

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## [Fornax at AAS 248](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/fornax-at-aas-248/864)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [April 29, 2026, 7:42am UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/fornax-at-aas-248/864 "2026-04-29T07:42:52Z")

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This month, we’re excited to announce Fornax at AAS, plus a new Euclid tutorial. But first, check out the new Fornax sizzle reel! Fornax at this Summer’s AAS Meeting Join us at the AAS meeting in Pasadena, California th…

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## [XLarge Instances Now Open, New SPHEREx Notebook, and Recent Science from Fornax](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/xlarge-instances-now-open-new-spherex-notebook-and-recent-science-from-fornax/803)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [March 24, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/xlarge-instances-now-open-new-spherex-notebook-and-recent-science-from-fornax/803 "2026-03-24T17:25:07Z")

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This month, we’re happy to announce expanded access to Fornax compute, the SPHEREx Source Discovery Tool, and two new papers highlighting science done on the Fornax Science Console. Fornax Science Console Updates The XL…

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## [Fornax Science Console Downtime, Saturday morning March 21](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/fornax-science-console-downtime-saturday-morning-march-21/791)

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**Author:** [@gailr](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/gailr)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [March 21, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/fornax-science-console-downtime-saturday-morning-march-21/791 "2026-03-21T15:19:47Z")

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The Fornax Science Console will be down briefly early Saturday morning (Eastern Daylight Time). We will be upgrading the release version of the Fornax Forum as well as adding some infrastructure improvements. The downtim…

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## [New SPHEREx and ZTF Data, Plus Fornax Science Environment Updates](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/new-spherex-and-ztf-data-plus-fornax-science-environment-updates/738)

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**Author:** [@raen](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/raen)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [February 25, 2026, 8:12pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/new-spherex-and-ztf-data-plus-fornax-science-environment-updates/738 "2026-02-25T20:12:04Z")

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Today we’re excited to announce new data from SPHEREx and ZTF, and updates to the Fornax Science Console. SPHEREx Observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS SPHEREx observed the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in August and December 20…

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## [Recent Updates to Fornax Science Console and Welcoming External Beta Users](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/recent-updates-to-fornax-science-console-and-welcoming-external-beta-users/642)

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**Author:** [@gailr](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/gailr)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [February 2, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/recent-updates-to-fornax-science-console-and-welcoming-external-beta-users/642 "2026-02-02T22:13:34Z")

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The Fornax Science Console is now welcoming beta users from the broader astronomical community - in this first phase, we are focusing on researchers, but will eventually open to students and the broader public. If you kn…

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## [Science Environment Update: 26.0119](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-26-0119/573)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [January 19, 2026, 4:35pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-26-0119/573 "2026-01-19T16:35:19Z")

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The science environment has been updated to version: 26.0119. The changes include: Add non-python environments R and Julia. Update CALDB to point to S3 location. Several permission fixes.

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## [Downtime and Important Change for Login to Fornax Science Console (Sat., Jan. 10)](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/downtime-and-important-change-for-login-to-fornax-science-console-sat-jan-10/559)

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**Author:** [@gailr](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/gailr)\
**Replies:** 2\
**Last updated:** [January 11, 2026, 3:46pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/downtime-and-important-change-for-login-to-fornax-science-console-sat-jan-10/559 "2026-01-11T15:46:00Z")

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The Fornax Science Console will be offline on Saturday, January 10, while a major update is installed. We will post a second announcement here when the update is finished and the Science Console is available again. Aft…

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## [Holiday Break – Dec 24-Jan 2](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/holiday-break-dec-24-jan-2/528)

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**Author:** [@fornax-staff](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/fornax-staff)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [December 19, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/holiday-break-dec-24-jan-2/528 "2025-12-19T21:11:16Z")

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Hi everyone, The Fornax staff will be on holiday break from December 24th through January 2nd. We won’t be actively moderating during this time, but we will respond to questions when we return the first week of January. …

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## [Science Environment Update: 25.1120](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-1120/481)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [November 21, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-1120/481 "2025-11-21T00:16:06Z")

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Release Notes Update fornax-labextension to open hub links (hub control and logout) in the same page (v0.1.8). Add setup-conda-env and setup-pip-env to manage user environments. Updates to the image deployment infrastr…

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## [AAS Workshop using OpenUniverse 2024 Simulated Roman and Rubin data](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/aas-workshop-using-openuniverse-2024-simulated-roman-and-rubin-data/443)

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**Author:** [@fornax-staff](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/fornax-staff)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [October 23, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/aas-workshop-using-openuniverse-2024-simulated-roman-and-rubin-data/443 "2025-10-23T23:00:35Z")

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Please join us for a Fornax based AAS workshop. Full description and registration available at https://aas.org/meetings/aas247/workshops

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## [Service disruptions related to AWS outage](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/service-disruptions-related-to-aws-outage/437)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [October 21, 2025, 12:08pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/service-disruptions-related-to-aws-outage/437 "2025-10-21T12:08:26Z")

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As of 13:00 ET on Oct 20, 2025, the Fornax deployment appears to be affected by the outage reported in many AWS services. Starting a notebook server may timeout trying to allocate the compute resources. Since this issue…

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## [Science Console Update: 10/08/2025 @ 11am EST](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-console-update-10-08-2025-11am-est/418)

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**Author:** [@asawyers](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/asawyers)\
**Replies:** 4\
**Last updated:** [October 8, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-console-update-10-08-2025-11am-est/418 "2025-10-08T19:17:56Z")

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We will updating the science console at 11am on Wed, 10/08/2025. We do not expect any downtime, but it’s possible - so be aware there can be interruptions for ~1 hour from 11am to 12pm. If you have an questions or conc…

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## [Science Environment Update: 25.0923](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0923/387)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [September 23, 2025, 8:47pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0923/387 "2025-09-23T20:47:22Z")

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The compute images have been updated to version 25.0923. Release Notes: Install notebook-intelligence extension for AI code assistance. Add conda/mamba alias that point the user to micromamba (issue #101). Make folder…

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## [Error starting notebook servers](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/error-starting-notebook-servers/370)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 1\
**Last updated:** [September 17, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/error-starting-notebook-servers/370 "2025-09-17T16:36:29Z")

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As of 09/17/2025 11:50 EST, starting a notebook server may fail reporting: Error: ImagePullBackOff. This has been reported to the core team and is caused by a failure in an external dockerhub service used by the system.…

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## [Science Environment Update: 25.0904](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0904/279)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [September 4, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0904/279 "2025-09-04T14:59:49Z")

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This an update to fix the vscode extension.

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## [Science Environment Update: 25.0903](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0903/270)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [September 3, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0903/270 "2025-09-03T18:49:39Z")

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Release Notes: Rebuild to pick the new deployed notebook kernels: \`ztf\_ps1\_crossmatch\` and \`spectra\_collector\`. Make the fornax-notebooks read-only. Modified notebooks need to be saved elsewhere. Bug fixes (issues #87,…

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## [Science Environment Update: 25.0829](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0829/244)

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**Author:** [@azoghbi](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/u/azoghbi)\
**Replies:** 0\
**Last updated:** [August 29, 2025, 3:57pm UTC](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/t/science-environment-update-25-0829/244 "2025-08-29T15:57:32Z")

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Add ‘Update Notebooks’ to Fornax menu (fornax-labextension = 0.1.5). Fix Firefly and dask installations. Fix calibration database CALDB setup for the heasoft and ciao environments in the high energy image. Upd…

[Next page](https://discourse.fornax.sciencecloud.nasa.gov/c/announcements/5.md?page=1)