The largest digital camera ever built has released its first shots of the universe
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, was built to take a deeper look at the night sky, covering hidden corners. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, it will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years.
The observatory's first look features the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. A gaggle of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster were also captured, including two bright blue spirals.
The observatory hopes to image 20 billion galaxies and discover new asteroids and other celestial objects.
The largest digital camera ever built has released its first glamour shots of the universe
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The effort is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who offered the first tantalizing evidence that a mysterious force called dark matter might be lurking in the universe. Researchers hope the observatory's discerning camera may yield clues about this elusive entity along with another called dark energy.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Astronomers get picture of aftermath of a star's double detonation
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Daily Mail
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The Independent
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Scientists spot potential ‘interstellar object' in our solar system
Scientists have identified a new object that may have originated outside our solar system. If confirmed, this would be only the third instance of an interstellar object ever spotted. The object has been temporarily named A11pl3Z and is being tracked by telescopes worldwide. The two previously confirmed interstellar visitors were ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. Researchers anticipate discovering more such objects in the future with the help of new, powerful telescopes.
