It’s been more than two decades since the Vera K. Rubin Observatory was first conceived in a sketch made on the back of a napkin. Construction of this enormous telescope is finally nearing completion, and on Monday, June 23, Rubin scientists unveiled its first dazzling images at an event broadcast live in Washington, DC.
Located atop a mountain in the Chilean Andes, the Rubin Observatory boasts the largest digital camera ever built. Recently, the telescope, operated by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Energy (DOE), used this 3.2-gigapixel camera, which is the size of a car, to conduct just over 10 hours of test observations. During this short period, Rubin observed millions of galaxies and stars in the Milky Way, as well as 2,104 previously unseen asteroids, according to an NSF press release. Rubin scientists released some of these images “sneakily” just after midnight on Monday, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
During today’s event, Rubin’s scientists employed a digital warping drive, using a program called Skyviewer, to zoom in on the observatory’s images and reveal their finer details in stunning clarity. This platform is freely available to everyone, allowing researchers and laypeople alike to explore space like never before. The ultra-high-resolution images showcase Rubin’s ability to capture swirling galaxies, colorful nebulae, and billions of stars in unprecedented detail.
“We hope you find these images beautiful. They’re also a little bit different from what you’re used to seeing – actually, a lot different,” said Steve Ritz, a professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and scientific advisor to the Rubin construction project. In most astronomical photographs, the gaps between objects are inky black voids. “But that’s not what you saw here. You saw that inky black space is actually full of things,” Ritz said.
“It’s full of galaxies – it’s full of all kinds of interesting things. And it’s thanks to Rubin’s unique combination of capabilities that we can show it all.”
The observatory’s first wave of discoveries includes supernovae and distant galaxies that could help astronomers study the expansion of the universe. By observing these objects, Rubin may even help resolve the Hubble tension problem—the discrepancy between different measurements of the current rate of expansion of the universe, known as the Hubble constant.
Rubin also discovered seven new near-Earth asteroids. They pose no threat to our planet, but their discovery demonstrates how the observatory can quickly identify previously unknown asteroids and help astronomers assess potential threats to Earth. All other ground-based and space-based observatories collectively discover about 20,000 new asteroids a year, but Rubin scientists estimate that this single observatory will discover millions in the first two years of its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) program.
This decade-long survey of the night sky will create an ultrawide, ultrahigh-resolution time-lapse record of the universe. This data will help scientists uncover the true nature of dark matter and dark energy, catalog the solar system, explore the changing sky, and understand the structure and functioning of our Milky Way galaxy.
Rubin will observe the cosmos on an automated schedule using the 27.6-foot (8.4-meter) Simonyi Survey Telescope, a unique three-mirror design with the largest convex mirror ever built. Each 30-second exposure will cover an area about 45 times the size of the full Moon. The LSST’s huge camera will then take wide-angle images and stitch them together to create a complete picture of the southern sky every three nights.
Special computers will process the data in real time. If they detect any changes in the night sky, they will send a global alert within minutes, allowing other telescopes to direct their gazes to the desired area. The observatory’s observations will be collected in a huge archive, greatly increasing the amount of data available to scientists.
Researchers led by astronomer Meg Schwamb of Queen’s University Belfast recently estimated that Rubin could triple the number of known near-Earth objects (NEOs) from about 38,000 to 127,000, discover 10 times more trans-Neptunian objects than are currently catalogued, and provide color, detailed observations of more than 5 million main-belt asteroids, up from about 1.4 million.
So the wealth of data obtained by Rubin in its first test is just the beginning. The observatory has already collected a “very complex” dataset, but Claire Higgs, an astronomer on Rubin’s education and outreach team, is working hard to make the data accessible to everyone. In addition to exploring Rubin’s images through Skyviewer, people will eventually be able to experience the observations through sound. Data sonification, the practice of giving information and processes an audible representation, offers a powerful alternative to visualization, according to the observatory’s website.
Higgs also looks forward to using Rubin’s data in educational settings. The observatory’s education program will provide online astronomy explorations based on Rubin’s real-world data that are designed for students of all ages, from middle schoolers to college students.
“One of the things that really excites me,” Higgs said, “is the fact that we’re going to see a generation of students who will be able to see Rubin’s data in their high school classrooms, and then maybe decide to study it at university, and then maybe make the next amazing discovery that will be contained in this treasure trove of data.”
