Latest news with #ZeljkoIvezic
Geek Wire
27-06-2025
- Science
- Geek Wire
University of Washington celebrates Rubin Observatory's debut — and looks ahead
University of Washington astronomer Zeljko Ivezic talks about the Rubin Observatory — a project in which he played a leading role — with an image of the facility displayed behind him. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) It's been more than two decades since the University of Washington helped kick off the effort to get the Vera C. Rubin Observatory built in Chile — and now that it's finished, UW astronomers are gearing up to get in on the first decade of discoveries. The university's role in the past, present and future of the Rubin Observatory and its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time, or LSST, literally took center stage in front of a packed house at UW's Kane Hall on Thursday night. UW astronomer Zeljko Ivezic, who served as director of Rubin construction and is shifting his focus to his role as head of science operations for LSST, recalled the night of April 15, when Rubin's first test images came in for fine tuning. 'We were all so happy, and we are still happy,' he said. 'We had been dreaming about this night for two decades, and it finally arrived. And not only that, we quickly obtained beautiful data, but also we continued to do so, and every new image was better and better. The observatory is performing beyond all our expectations.' Ivezic showed off the images of swirling galaxies and colorful nebulas that he first unveiled earlier in the week at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. And he talked up an online tool called Skyviewer that allows users to click around the observatory's 3,200-megapixel images and zoom in on details. 'It's an easy-to-use app,' he told the audience. 'When you go home tonight, then you can spend the next few hours just going around. Turn off the light in your room and then look at your screen, and it will be fantastic.' University of Washington Zeljko Ivezic shows off his Rubin Observatory necktie and matching nail polish. The tie is on sale via the Startorialist website. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) The University of Washington's involvement in the Rubin Observatory goes back to the early 2000s, when astronomers began considering how a next-generation sky survey might be accomplished. In its early years, the project was known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (which set the precedent for the LSST acronym). UW was one of four founding partners of the LSST Corporation, an entity that was set up to get the project started. (That nonprofit group, which was subsequently renamed the LSST Discovery Alliance, now has 40 member institutions.) In 2008, the project got a huge boost from Microsoft billionaires Bill Gates and Charles Simonyi — who donated $10 million and $20 million, respectively, to support early work on the telescope's 8.4-meter-wide (28-foot-wide) mirror. As the years went on, support for the project grew, fueled by a high rating in the National Research Council's 2010 Decadal Survey. Eventually, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science allocated hundreds of millions of dollars for building the observatory in Chile, where dry air and dark skies made for optimal viewing conditions. In 2019, the observatory was officially named in honor of astronomer Vera Rubin, who analyzed galactic rotation rates to nail down the first convincing evidence for the existence of dark matter. The survey telescope, meanwhile, was named after Simonyi's family in recognition of his early gift. Today, UW's Rubin Observatory team consists of about 75 faculty members and graduate students, plus scores of undergraduates. University of Washington astronomer Mario Juric, the team's principal investigator, noted that UW played an essential role in getting the observatory up and running. 'None of this would be possible without the Rubin team right here at UW,' he told Thursday night's audience. Members of the University of Washington's team for the Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time pose for a group picture after a presentation at UW's Kane Hall. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) That essential role will continue into the next decade. In partnership with Princeton University, UW's team is responsible for the software that processes the trillions of bytes of image data that are generated by the observatory on a nightly basis. That work meshes with the leading roles in Rubin operations that are performed by the National Science Foundation's NOIRLab and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. 'We're here to figure out how to build algorithms to get the most out of data, how to make the software work as well as it can,' Juric told GeekWire. Andrew Connolly, another UW astronomer who is the director of the university's eScience Institute, said the university's researchers are relying on machine learning and other artificial intelligence strategies 'to accelerate our discoveries.' 'We build AI that allows us to study the variability in time series data. We build new tools at U Dub to search for the signatures of a distant planet in the outskirts of our solar system,' he said. 'We even use AI to improve the image quality and the sharpness of the images that you see.' Astronomers expect the data from Rubin to reveal millions of previously undetected asteroids in our own solar system, shed light on the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, track phenomena including gamma-ray bursts and supernovas, and capture images of billions of galaxies repeatedly over the coming decade. James Davenport — who is the newly named director of the university's DiRAC Institute, taking a handoff from Juric — said it's going to be an exciting 10 years. 'We are going to discover things we don't expect,' he said.
Free Malaysia Today
25-06-2025
- Science
- Free Malaysia Today
Vera Rubin observatory reveals stunning first images
The first images of deep space captured by the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile are revealed in Santiago. (AFP pic) WASHINGTON : Breathtaking stellar nurseries, a sprawling stretch of cosmos teeming with millions of galaxies, and thousands of newly discovered asteroids were revealed Monday in the first deep space images captured by the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile. More than two decades in the making, the US$800 million US-funded telescope sits atop Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One debut image is a composite of 678 exposures taken over seven hours, capturing the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae – both several thousand light-years from Earth – glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. It reveals these birth places of stars in unprecedented detail, with previously faint or invisible features now clearly visible. Another, dubbed 'The Cosmic Treasure Chest,' shows the universe 'teeming with stars and galaxies – the seemingly empty black pockets of space between stars in the night sky when you look at it with unaided eyes, are transformed here into these glittering tapestries,' said Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin construction. Spiral, elliptical, and clustered galaxies appear in vivid reds, blues, and oranges. These colours reveal key details such as distance and size with unmatched precision, helping scientists better understand the universe's expansion history. The colours don't directly match what the naked eye would see, explained scientist Federica Bianco, since the telescope captures a far broader range of wavelengths. Instead, they are representational: infrared is mapped to red to represent cooler objects, while ultraviolet is mapped to blue and indicates warmer ones. 10-year flagship project An interactive version of the image is now available on the Rubin Observatory's website. 'One of the things that is very fun is that if you zoom in and you look at one of the fuzzy galaxies there, you might be the first person to be paying attention to that fuzzy blob,' said Clare Higgs, education and public outreach science lead. The observatory features an advanced 8.4-metre telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, supported by a powerful data system transferring 20 terabytes each night. Roughly the size of a car, the camera captures 3,200-megapixel images. It would take 400 ultra-high-definition televisions stacked together to view a single Rubin image at full resolution. Later this year, the observatory will launch its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Over the next decade, it will scan the night sky nightly, detecting even the subtlest changes with unmatched precision. Named after pioneering American astronomer Vera C. Rubin – whose research provided the first conclusive evidence for dark matter – the observatory continues her legacy by making dark matter a central focus of its mission. Dark energy, an equally mysterious and immensely powerful force, is believed to drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. Together, dark matter and dark energy are thought to make up 95% of the cosmos, yet their true nature remains unknown. 'By observing up to 20 billion galaxies, we'll study how light from those distant galaxies has reached us – and nearly every galaxy's light has been bent by the gravitational interaction of dark matter that pervades the universe,' said scientist Aaron Roodman. This, he added, will help illuminate these cosmic mysteries. A joint initiative of the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, the observatory is also considered one of the most powerful tools ever built for planetary defence. In just 10 hours of observation, Rubin discovered 2,104 previously unknown asteroids in our solar system, including seven near-Earth objects – none of which pose a threat. All other ground- and space-based observatories combined discover about 20,000 new asteroids per year. Chilean pride Chile hosts telescopes from more than 30 countries, including some of the most advanced astronomical instruments in the world – among them the ALMA Observatory, the most powerful radio telescope on Earth. Cerro Tololo Observatory helped achieve the landmark discovery of the universe's accelerating expansion – a breakthrough that earned the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. Another major project, the Extremely Large Telescope, is slated to begin operations in 2027 and promises to probe previously unreachable cosmic distances.
Korea Herald
24-06-2025
- Science
- Korea Herald
Vera Rubin observatory reveals stunning first images
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Breathtaking stellar nurseries, a sprawling stretch of cosmos teeming with millions of galaxies, and thousands of newly discovered asteroids were revealed Monday in the first deep space images captured by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. More than two decades in the making, the $800 million US-funded telescope sits atop Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One debut image is a composite of 678 exposures taken over seven hours, capturing the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. It reveals these birth places of stars in unprecedented detail, with previously faint or invisible features now clearly visible. Another, dubbed "The Cosmic Treasure Chest," shows the universe "teeming with stars and galaxies — the seemingly empty black pockets of space between stars in the night sky when you look at it with unaided eyes, are transformed here into these glittering tapestries," said Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin construction. Spiral, elliptical, and clustered galaxies appear in vivid reds, blues, and oranges. These colors reveal key details such as distance and size with unmatched precision, helping scientists better understand the universe's expansion history. The colors don't directly match what the naked eye would see, explained scientist Federica Bianco, since the telescope captures a far broader range of wavelengths. Instead, they are representational: infrared is mapped to red to represent cooler objects, while ultraviolet is mapped to blue and indicates warmer ones. 10-year flagship project An interactive version of the image is now available on the Rubin Observatory's website. "One of the things that is very fun is that if you zoom in and you look at one of the fuzzy galaxies there, you might be the first person to be paying attention to that fuzzy blob," said Clare Higgs, education and public outreach science lead. The observatory features an advanced 8.4-meter telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, supported by a powerful data system transferring 20 terabytes each night. Roughly the size of a car, the camera captures 3,200-megapixel images. It would take 400 ultra-high-definition televisions stacked together to view a single Rubin image at full resolution. Later this year, the observatory will launch its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Over the next decade, it will scan the night sky nightly, detecting even the subtlest changes with unmatched precision. Named after pioneering American astronomer Vera C. Rubin — whose research provided the first conclusive evidence for dark matter — the observatory continues her legacy by making dark matter a central focus of its mission. Dark energy, an equally mysterious and immensely powerful force, is believed to drive 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. "By observing up to 20 billion galaxies, we'll study how light from those distant galaxies has reached us — and nearly every galaxy's light has been bent by the gravitational interaction of dark matter that pervades the universe," said scientist Aaron Roodman. This, he added, will help illuminate these cosmic mysteries. A joint initiative of the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, the observatory is also considered one of the most powerful tools ever built for planetary defense. In just 10 hours of observation, Rubin discovered 2,104 previously unknown asteroids in our solar system, including seven near-Earth objects — none of which pose a threat. All other ground- and space-based observatories combined discover about 20,000 new asteroids per year. Chilean pride Chile hosts telescopes from more than 30 countries, including some of the most advanced astronomical instruments in the world — among them the ALMA Observatory, the most powerful radio telescope on Earth. Cerro Tololo Observatory helped achieve the landmark discovery of the universe's accelerating expansion — a breakthrough that earned the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. Another major project, the Extremely Large Telescope, is slated to begin operations in 2027 and promises to probe previously unreachable cosmic distances.
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Staggering' first images from Vera C. Rubin Observatory show 10 million galaxies — and billions more are on the way
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. After decades of preparation, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory released its first images to the world in a live stream on Monday (June 23). The photos, taken by the world's largest digital camera, are highly-detailed and show relatively large areas of the sky. In a televised news conference, scientists from the observatory revealed new details about the images that far surpass the "sneak peek" images released earlier in the day. In fact, an awe-inspiring spiral galaxy image shared prior to the press conference on Monday only shows about 2% of the space cataloged in Rubin's first photo of the night sky, project scientists revealed. The full image includes 10 million galaxies in and around the Virgo Cluster, many of which have never been seen before, Zeljko Ivezic, Project Scientist at Rubin and Deputy Director of the observatory's Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) construction project, said during the live stream. The complete image is a whopping 3200 megapixels, which would need to be displayed on 400 ultra-high-definition TV screens for human eyes to resolve it — enough monitors to blanket an entire basketball court — Ivezic explained. You can find all of the first-look images on the observatory's website, including a searchable and zoomable version of the full 3200-megapixel image. In the observatory's first year of operation, it will gather more data than all other existing optical observatories combined, according to a statement from the observatory. This data will be freely available to scientists in hopes that it will lead to critical new discoveries about the universe, including the locations of previously unseen asteroids, insights into the properties of dark matter and dark energy — two invisible entities that make up a majority of the universe but remain poorly understood — and more. Related: Vera C. Rubin Observatory: The groundbreaking mission to make a 10-year, time-lapse movie of the universe "I trust that the stunning images and staggering amount of data the observatory will produce will support exceptional scientific efforts around the world," said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in the conference. During its planned 10 years of operation, Rubin will produce about 20 terabytes of data per night by taking high-resolution photographs of the night sky at 30-second intervals, according to the statement. By the end of its run, the observatory will have captured an estimated 40 billion celestial objects and taken trillions of measurements. The Rubin team hopes that this data will advance understanding of mysterious cosmic phenomena. "Starting today, our ability to understand dark matter, dark energy and planetary defense will grow even faster than ever before," Brian Stone, chief of staff of the National Science Foundation, which operates the Observatory along with the U.S. Department of Energy, said in the conference. Once fully operational later this year, Rubin will continuously take photos of the night sky to capture every possible movement of the celestial objects it can see. It will collect about 1,000 images per night, covering the Southern sky every three or four nights. These images will then be stitched together to create an extremely detailed time-lapse movie of the universe. The time-lapse will reveal the nightly movements of asteroids, comets, stars, supernovas, galaxies and possibly other cosmic phenomena that are as yet unknown, the statement noted. RELATED STORIES —It's Official: Vera Rubin Observatory Named to Honor Dark Matter Scientist —Could scientists stop a 'planet killer' asteroid from hitting Earth? —'Everything we found shattered our expectations': Archaeologists discover 1st astronomical observatory from ancient Egypt In its first few nights of observations, for example, the Rubin Observatory pinpointed the locations of more than 2,000 previously unknown asteroids moving through our solar system. By the end of its mission, the observatory is expected to discover some 5 million new asteroids — about five times the number of all known asteroids discovered in the last 200 years, researchers said in the conference. "The movie has started, the camera is running and we're going to see our cosmos unfold before us," said Chris Wright, Secretary for the Department of Energy, in the conference.
Telegraph
23-06-2025
- Science
- Telegraph
World's biggest telescope finds 2,000 asteroids in a week
The world's largest digital camera telescope has discovered 2,000 new asteroids, including seven potentially hazardous space rocks that will pass close to Earth. The Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile released the first images from its 3,200 megapixel camera, which produces images so large they are impossible to see in detail with the human eye. In the first few days of sky scanning, the telescope spotted 2,104 unknown asteroids, including a handful of 'near-earth objects' (NEOs) which will pass within 30 million miles of Earth's orbit. Scientists currently know of around one million asteroids, but the observatory expects to find another five million in the next few years, including tens of thousands of NEOs. 'Seven near-earth objects' Zeljko Ivezic, the deputy director of the observatory, said: 'There are so many of them, just in a few nights of data, and in just one tiny region. 'We have 2,000 in this few nights of data, and there are seven near-earth objects that have orbits that cross Earth's orbit. None of them is in a position to strike Earth, don't worry. 'We'll get tens of thousands more near-earth objects and will discover about five million new asteroids during the next few years. This is five times more than all the astronomers in the world discovered in the last 200 years, since the discovery of the first asteroid. 'So because of this rapid development of technology today, we can outdo all these two centuries of effort in just a couple of years.' NEOs are closely monitored to make sure they do not change course and come perilously close to Earth. In January the European Space Agency Planetary Defence Office announced that asteroid 2024 YR4 had a small chance of impacting Earth in 2032. The estimate has since been downgraded, but it may still hit the Moon. The observatory is expected to detect 90 per cent of all potentially hazardous asteroids over 460 feet wide, and is likely to solve the mystery of Planet Nine, which astronomers believe may be lurking in the depths of our solar system. The Rubin Observatory also released a striking mosaic of the glowing pink Trifid and Lagoon nebulae in the Sagittarius constellation where new stars are forming in huge clouds of gas and dust. An image of the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 49, usually seen as a bright spot on a dark background, revealed a sky teeming with brightly coloured stars and galaxies. Demystify dark matter The new images show how galaxies cluster together, and experts are hoping the unprecedented detail will help uncover the secrets of dark matter and dark energy – the two most mysterious forces in the universe. The observatory is named after Vera Rubin, the American astrophysicist who calculated that galaxies must contain about ten times as much 'dark' mass, otherwise they would fly apart. She proposed that at least ninety percent of the mass in the universe is invisible and unidentified. The observatory, which has been described as the 'greatest astronomical discovery machine ever built' is located in the Andes on the top of Cerro Pachón in Chile and has taken two decades to build. Its main goal is to produce a huge, ultra-high-definition movie of the universe by scanning the whole sky over 10 years, called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). The digital camera in the telescope is so big that it would need 400 high-definition television screens to display a single image. When complete, the full survey is expected to rack up 500 petabytes of data – the same storage as half-a-million 4K Hollywood films. Britain to process 1.5m images Prof Hiranya Peiris from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, part of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration, said: 'We will be looking at the universe in a way that we have never done before, and this exploration is bound to throw up surprises that we never imagined.' Britain will also host one of three international data facilities which will process around 1.5 million images, capturing around 10 billion stars and galaxies. Prof Bob Mann, the LSST:UK Project Leader from the University of Edinburgh, said: 'UK researchers have been contributing to the scientific and technical preparation for the Rubin LSST for more than ten years. 'These exciting First Look images show that everything is working well and reassure us that we have a decade's worth of wonderful data coming our way, with which UK astronomers will do great science.' Prof Vasily Belokurov from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy added: 'A new era of galactic archaeology is beginning.'
