Groundbreaking Vera Rubin Observatory Reveals First Images
More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos.
One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula -- both several thousand light-years from Earth -- glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops.
The image reveals these stellar nurseries within our Milky Way in unprecedented detail, with previously faint or invisible features now clearly visible.
Another image offers a sweeping view of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
The team also released a video dubbed the "cosmic treasure chest," which begins with a close-up of two galaxies before zooming out to reveal approximately 10 million more.
"The Rubin Observatory is an investment in our future, which will lay down a cornerstone of knowledge today on which our children will proudly build tomorrow," said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Equipped with an advanced 8.4-meter telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, the Rubin Observatory is supported by a powerful data-processing system.
Later this year, it will begin its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Over the next decade, it will scan the night sky nightly, capturing even the subtlest visible changes with unmatched precision.
The observatory is named after pioneering American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, whose research provided the first conclusive evidence for the existence of dark matter -- a mysterious substance that does not emit light but exerts gravitational influence on galaxies.
Dark energy refers to the equally mysterious and immensely powerful force believed to be driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. Together, dark matter and dark energy are thought to make up 95 percent of the cosmos, yet their true nature remains unknown.
The observatory, a joint initiative of the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, has also been hailed as one of the most powerful tools ever built for tracking asteroids.
In just 10 hours of observations, the Rubin Observatory discovered 2,104 previously undetected asteroids in our solar system, including seven near-Earth objects -- all of which pose no threat.
For comparison, all other ground- and space-based observatories combined discover about 20,000 new asteroids per year.
Rubin is also set to be the most effective observatory at spotting interstellar objects passing through the solar system.
More images from the observatory are expected to be released later Monday morning. In just a small section of the Rubin Observatory's total view of the Virgo Cluster, bright stars shine in the foreground in front of many distant galaxies AFP Aerial view of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory under construction in January 2024 AFP
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Int'l Business Times
6 days ago
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Int'l Business Times
02-07-2025
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Possible Interstellar Object Spotted Zooming Through Solar System
An object that appears to be from beyond our Solar System has been spotted hurtling towards the Sun, which if confirmed would be the third visitor from the stars ever detected, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. The object, which is currently being referred to as A11pl3Z, poses no threat to Earth, the ESA's planetary defence head Richard Moissl told AFP. "It will fly deep through the Solar System, passing just inside the orbit of Mars," but will not hit our neighbouring planet, he said. Excited astronomers are still refining their calculations, but the object appears to be zooming more than 60 kilometres (37 miles) a second. This would mean it is not bound by the Sun's orbit, unlike comets and asteroids, which all originate from within the Solar System. Its trajectory also "means it's not orbiting our star, but coming from interstellar space and flying off to there again," Moissl said. "We are not 100 percent certain at the moment, but anything else would be a surprise," he added. Official confirmation is expected to come from the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, which has recorded more than 100 observations of the object so far. The NASA-funded ATLAS survey in Hawaii first discovered the object on Tuesday, US astronomer David Rankin wrote on the social media platform Bluesky. Professional and amateur astronomers across the world then searched through past telescope data, tracing its trajectory back to at least June 14. The object is currently estimated to be roughly 10-20 kilometres wide, Moissl said. But the object could be smaller if it is made out of ice, which reflects more light. "It will get brighter and closer to the Sun until late October and then still be observable (by telescope) until next year," Moissl said. It would be the third time humanity has detected something coming from the stars. The first, 'Oumuamua, was discovered in 2017. It was so strange that at least one prominent scientist became convinced it was an alien vessel -- though this has since been dismissed by further research. Our second interstellar visitor, 2I/Borisov, was spotted in 2019. Mark Norris, an astronomer at the UK's University of Central Lancashire, told AFP that the new object appears to be "moving considerably faster than the other two extra-solar objects that we previously discovered." The object is currently roughly around the distance from Jupiter away from Earth, Norris said. He lamented that he would not be able to observe the object on his telescope on Wednesday night, because it is currently only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. Norris pointed to modelling estimating that there could be as many 10,000 interstellar objects drifting through the Solar System at any given time, though most would be smaller than the newly discovered object. If true, this suggests that the newly online Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile could soon be finding these dim interstellar visitors every month, Norris said. Moissl said it is not feasible to send a mission into space to intercept the new object. Still, these visitors offer scientists a rare chance to study something outside of our Solar System. For example, if we detected precursors of life such as amino acids on such an object, it would give us "a lot more confidence that the conditions for life exist in other star systems," Norris said. An artist's impression of 'Oumuamua, the first known visitor from the stars to our Solar System AFP
