Latest news with #VeraCRubinObservatory
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Science
- Irish Examiner
Largest digital camera ever built reveals its first shots of the universe
The largest digital camera ever built released its first shots of the universe on Monday — including colourful nebulas, stars and galaxies. 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 US National Science Foundation and US Department of Energy, it will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years. An image provided by the NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory (NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory via AP) The observatory's first look features the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly six 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 effort is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who offered the first tantalising 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.
CBC
4 days ago
- Science
- CBC
What are the chances of Earth being hit by a big asteroid?
Social Sharing A week ago, the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory released its first images. It also included a video of all the asteroids it discovered. In just 10 hours, the Simonyi Survey Telescope with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera captured more than 2,000 previously undetected asteroids. It's a reminder that, while there's a lot of space in space, our solar system still has a lot going on. Asteroids are rocks and debris left over from the formation of our solar system. There are two main areas where much of it is located. The first being the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The second is the Kuiper Belt, beyond the orbit of Neptune. But there are still many more floating around out there. WATCH | See a swarm of newly discovered asteroids See a swarm of new asteroids 7 days ago Duration 0:58 Scientists estimate that roughly 44 tonnes of meteoric debris fall toward Earth every day. That's right: every day. The good news is that most of it burns up in our atmosphere. But what are the chances that a much larger object is on a collision course with Earth? "Earth has been hit in the past by large asteroids, and presumably, if we waited long enough, something would happen. But the risk is very, very small," said Paul Weigert, a professor at Western University's department of physics and astronomy in London, Ont. "So none of the asteroids that we know about today have a significant chance of striking Earth in the next 100 years or so. So that's a pretty healthy time horizon." However, there's no guarantee that something that has thus far been undetected isn't on its way. "As we go beyond that, there's always the chance that we can discover new asteroids, of course, and they become not unpredictable, but harder to predict in great detail, at longer distances," Weigert added. The importance of being earnest There are numerous groups scanning the sky looking for asteroids, and Weigert said that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory ramps up the search like never before. "The Vera Rubin telescope is really going to revolutionize the way this kind of work is done. I think even people who knew what to expect, that knew this was coming down the pipeline, were impressed by the way LSST-Rubin was able really dive right in and start finding these things," he said. "So that's going to be a very impressive discovery machine going forward." NASA has found more than 1.4 billion asteroids, and believes it has identified more than 95 per cent of asteroids one kilometre or larger in our solar system. It's estimated that the Rubin observatory will discover 89,000 near-Earth objects and 3.7 million main-belt asteroids. Now, getting hit by an asteroid is a really a matter of odds. Smaller objects, such as asteroids about 10 metres in diameter impact Earth once a decade. While not planetary ending, they can break windows. The Chelyabinsk meteorite that exploded over Russia in 2013 was twice this size, and did indeed break windows, which injured roughly 1,500 people. The bigger the rock, the less often they impact Earth. For example, a 140-metre asteroid impacts Earth roughly once every 1,000 years and one that is about one kilometre in size impacts Earth roughly every 700,000 years. An asteroid that size would be devastating. The one that is believed to have killed off the dinosaurs was about 10 to 15 kilometres in size. Those impacts are estimated to happen about once every 100 million years. Jim Freemantle is project manager for the OSIRIS-REx laser altimeter project at York University in Toronto. OSIRIS-REx was the sample-return mission to the asteroid Bennu. He has a tiny piece of the asteroid in his lab. He believes it's important to track and better understand asteroids overall. "I don't lie awake wondering about, you know, is a dinosaur-killer asteroid gonna come and destroy us all. We've got other things to worry about," he said. "It is something that I think that it's prudent to begin to think about, measuring where or looking for where asteroids are, because sometimes they sneak up on us." He also said that he's excited to have these observation systems in place, and also by plans to try to deflect any asteroid that might be on a collision course with Earth. In particular, he noted NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission to a two-asteroid system. The goal was to see if we could move an asteroid by slamming something into one. The spacecraft crashed into one of the asteroids to see if doing so could change its orbit. It was deemed a success. And now the European Space Agency has a spacecraft on its way back to the system for more follow-up observations. Asteroid to impact the moon? Weigert and his team recently released a pre-print study about 2024 YR4, a newly discovered asteroid 60 metres in size that, at one point this year, raised some concerns about its chance that it would impact Earth in 2032. But we've now been given the green light to stop worrying about that, as astronomers have refined the asteroid's orbit somewhat, and it turns out that it won't impact Earth. However, there's still a four per cent chance it will hit the moon. In the new study from Weigert and his colleagues calculated what that might look like. How worried should we be about an asteroid hurtling toward Earth? | Hanomansing Tonight 4 months ago Duration 3:39 NASA says the chances of a direct hit by asteroid 2024 YR4, which could be the size of a football field, keep shifting. CBC News's Johanna Wagstaffe and Sarah Galashan discuss what people should watch for. He said that typically, when an asteroid hits the moon or any planet without an atmosphere, it makes a crater about 10 times its own size. As for 2024 YR4, if it hits the moon, rocks and debris will blast out with most falling back down the the lunar surface. But some of those tiny rocks could make their way to Earth, the authors said. "If it hits in the right spot, quite a bit of material could be delivered to Earth in the form of basically small lunar rocks, maybe centimetre-size or millimetre-size, perfect for making shooting stars, falling stars, and that would produce quite a wonderful meteor shower on Earth over several days, depending again and exactly where it strikes the moon," Weigert said. But, that would also pose a bit of a threat to satellites. But Weigert anticipates that as the orbit is further refined — which won't happen until 2028 the earliest, as its currently behind the sun — the chances of this happening will drop to zero. Weigert also explained why it takes time to get a better estimate at the path of an asteroid. "You can see it move across the sky very, very well, but it's actually very, very difficult to tell how far away it is," he said. "It's only after watching it over a long period of time and knowing about the laws of physics and how gravity affects the orbit, that you can really refine it and say, 'Okay, if it's following the laws of physics, which it should be doing, that it's traveling along this path.'" When asked if he loses any sleep over the possibility of an asteroid hitting Earth, Weigert said quite simply, "No." "We've seen most of the really dangerous asteroids, and we're continuing to work diligently to find as many more of the slightly less but still somewhat dangerous asteroids, and especially with something like the Rubin observatory coming online here, now that that task is going to sort of move to completion even faster than it has been."
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Weather Whiz: June 29, 2025
How well have you been paying attention to the weather this week? Here are five questions that will test your knowledge of what's been going on. A: The stunning image above shows clouds of gas and dust in the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae, located several thousand light-years from Earth. It combines 678 images taken over just seven hours, revealing faint details—like nebular gas and dust—that would otherwise be invisible. Where was it taken? B: The first named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season was an uneventful one named _______. C: On Tuesday, a tornado downed hundreds of trees when it hit a famous summit in what state? D: The 10 most dangerous beaches in the U.S. are all in ______. E: Scientists are puzzled after a cosmic particle detector flying high above ______ picked up a series of strange signals – ones that current science cannot explain. . . . . . Answers A: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory. B: Andrea. C: Colorado. D: Florida. E: Antarctica.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
A cotton candy nebula glows in Vera C. Rubin Observatory's first close-up image: Space photo of the week
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. QUICK FACTS What it is: Trifid Nebula (Messier 20) Where it is: 5,000 light-years distant in the constellation Sagittarius. When it was shared: June 23, 2025 This week, researchers revealed the long-awaited debut images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Among its first batch — alongside one of the most detailed snapshots of space ever taken — was this spectacular image of the Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20. The stunning image from the world's largest digital camera showcases the colorful object at its best. A cloud of gas and dust, the Trifid Nebula is three things at once, hence its name ("trifid" means split into three parts). The pink is an emission nebula, a diffuse cloud of ionized gas that emits its own light, according to NASA. The blue is a reflection nebula, a cloud of gas and dust that scatters the light of nearby stars, much like a streetlight surrounded by fog. The dark regions of the image are dark nebulas and dust lanes that split the object into three parts, creating an intricate web of dust and star clusters. Related: 6 incredible objects hidden in Vera C. Rubin Observatory's mind-boggling first image The Trifid Nebula is a dynamic place. Inside it, new stars are being born, creating intense radiation that sculpts the gas into the spectacular shapes seen in the image. MORE SPACE PHOTOS —6 incredible objects hidden in Vera C. Rubin Observatory's mind-boggling first image —NASA spots Martian volcano twice the height of Mount Everest bursting through the morning clouds —James Webb telescope takes best look at 'Sombrero Galaxy' in 244 years The spectacular shot, which is available online as a zoomable version as well as a 40-megapixel download, was taken over four nights in May 2025 and is the result of 664 exposures using the 3,200-megapixel Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera. It's attached to the 8.4‑meter (27.6 feet) Simonyi Survey Telescope. Together, they will image the Southern Hemisphere's night sky every three to four days for the next decade, creating an unprecedented time-lapse survey of the universe. This decade-long survey will generate more data in one year than all prior optical astronomy combined. Rubin will likely identify millions of new asteroids (more than 2,100 have already been discovered in its first week), as well as unknown supernovas and potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. Each patch of the sky Rubin studies will be imaged about 800 times during the project, including the Trifid Nebula. For more sublime space images, check out our Space Photo of the Week archives.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Science news this week: A unique new blood type and 'spiderwebs' on Mars
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This week's science news kicked off with a staggering first look at images taken by the newly operational Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Boasting the world's largest digital camera, Rubin's first photo of the night sky included 10 million galaxies in and around the Virgo cluster, many of which have never been seen before. The observatory, which will become fully operational by the end of 2025, promises to gather more data than all other existing optical observatories combined in its first year alone, representatives said in a statement. It's hoped that this data will enable scientists to discover the locations of previously unseen asteroids and gain new insights into the properties of dark matter and dark energy, among other things. After years of analysis and observation, scientists have identified a new blood group, called Gwada negative, that has so far only been identified in only one person on the planet. The 68-year-old from the French overseas region of Guadeloupe became a subject of medical interest in 2011 after routine blood tests were unable to identify her blood type or any compatible matches. Roughly a decade later, and after two years of detailed genome sequencing, it was confirmed that the woman carried a previously unknown blood type thanks to a unique genetic mutation. It is unclear how many other people carry this mutation, if any, but as it stands the patient is the only person in the world with a blood type compatible with her own. Discover more health news —Some early-onset cancers are on the rise. Why? —Fungus that may have caused 'King Tut's curse' shows promise in treating cancer —New 'breathalyzer' could detect signs of disease in human breath, scientists say From birds of prey to tiny insects, animals have evolved an impressive spectrum of visual adaptations to help them see in their environment — whether escaping predators or hunting for prey. But pinpointing exactly which animal has the best eyesight is easier said than done. —If you enjoyed this, sign up for our Life's Little Mysteries newsletter Queen Hatshepsut ruled as pharaoh between 1473 and 1458 B.C. and, until recently, it was thought that after her death her nephew and successor smashed all of her statues to erase her from public memory. However, new research suggests this might not have been the case. Researchers now say that, while Hatshepsut's statues were indeed intentionally broken, it was not to blot out her existence. Rather, her statues are thought to have been broken to "deactivate" their supposed supernatural powers. Discover more archaeology news —'Thriving and densely-built': Archaeologists unearth 'tower' houses and ceremonial building in ancient Egyptian city of Imet —'God-king' born from incest in ancient Ireland wasn't a god or a king, new study finds —40,000-year-old mammoth tusk boomerang is oldest in Europe — and possibly the world —Threaten an AI chatbot and it will lie, cheat and 'let you die' in an effort to stop you, study warns —'Pulsing, like a heartbeat': Rhythmic mantle plume rising beneath Ethiopia is creating a new ocean —'Ring of fire' thunderstorms loom around 'heat dome' as season's first tropical storm, Andrea, named in the Atlantic —Intrepid baby-faced robot dons a jetpack for its next adventure — becoming the first humanoid robot to fly Back in November, orcas off the coast of Washington brought back a bizarre trend that hadn't been reported since the 1980s: balancing dead salmon on their heads. Now, the same orca pod has been filmed giving each other "massages" with seaweed, a behavior that has never been reported before. The footage shows the orcas breaking off sections of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), pressing the stems against the body of another orca and rolling the kelp between their bodies, in what seems to be a newly described grooming ritual. The researchers believe it is the first example of tool manufacture by marine mammals, the first known tool used in wild animals that benefits two individuals at once, and the first time non-human animals have been observed manipulating a tool with the core of their bodies, rather than an appendage. If you're looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts and interviews published this week. —AI hallucinates more frequently as it gets more advanced — is there any way to stop it from happening, and should we even try? (Analysis) —The San Andreas Fault: Facts about the crack in California's crust that could unleash the 'Big One' (Fact file) —How to photograph your microscope specimens (Feature) And something for the skywatchers —You can see a giant 'hole' shoot across Saturn this summer — and it won't happen again until 2040 Mysterious patterns on Mars, spanning up to 12 miles (20 kilometers), have been photographed up close for the first time. The spiderweb-like structures, known as "boxwork," are made up of criss-crossing ridges of mineral-rich rock that scientists believe may have been left behind by ancient groundwater on the Red Planet. The web-like structures were photographed by NASA's Curiosity rover, and scientists hope that studying them up close could reveal more about Mars' watery past and provide clues about whether the planet once harbored life. Want more science news? Follow our Live Science WhatsApp Channel for the latest discoveries as they happen. It's the best way to get our expert reporting on the go, but if you don't use WhatsApp, we're also on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Flipboard, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky and LinkedIn.
