Particle.news
Download on the App Store
9 ARTICLES
·
2w ago

Vera C. Rubin Observatory Reveals First Images as Decade-Long Survey Begins

The observatory will generate 20 terabytes of imaging data each night with its 3,200-megapixel camera

This composite image combines 678 separate images to show faint details like clouds of gas and dust in the Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula.
This image shows another small section of NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory's total view of the Virgo cluster. Visible are two prominent spiral galaxies (lower right), three merging galaxies (upper right), several groups of distant galaxies, many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and more.
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, will revolutionize the way astronomers explore the cosmos.
Star trails appear as colorful brushstrokes spread across the night sky above NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Overview

  • The observatory released its first images on June 23 to officially launch the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time.
  • A 3,200-megapixel, 3,000-kilogram camera mounted on an 8.4-metre telescope mirror will capture wide-field sky images every few seconds from Cerro Pachón in Chile.
  • Researchers will process approximately 20 terabytes of data each night using software developed by Australian teams granted immediate access rights.
  • The science program encompasses four main objectives: charting dark matter distribution; investigating dark energy; mapping the Milky Way; exploring transient phenomena such as supernovas.
  • Astronomers anticipate that rapid-cadence imaging will reveal millions of new solar system objects with the possibility of detecting the hypothesized Planet Nine.