Astronomers will begin taking a time-lapse of the night sky using the largest digital camera ever built. Designed to detect any new or moving specks of light, as well as the structure of the universe, the new $473 million Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile will take so many images, so fast, that it will produce effectively an astronomical film that allows scientists to see the universe in real time.
Formerly known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the Rubin Observatory is expected to give astronomers the data they need to unravel some of the deepest mysteries of how the universe works. The observatory is named after the first astronomer Vera C. Rubin, who found evidence for dark matterthe mysterious substance that binds galaxies together.
The observatory is set to undertake a 10-year time lapse of the universe. Here’s everything you need to know about the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and its groundbreaking mission.
What is the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and why is it unique?
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will be like no other telescope on Earth. The Extremely Wide Field Telescope will launch the decade-long Legacy of Space and Time Survey, an extremely ambitious project to image the entire Southern Hemisphere night sky every three to four nights.
While many modern telescopes are built for close-up views, the observatory’s Simonyi Survey Telescope, which boasts a 27.6-foot-wide (8.4-meter) primary mirror, has a field of view roughly the diameter of seven full moons.
The Rubin Observatory has been under construction since 2014 at an elevation of 8,900 feet (2,700 m) atop Cerro Pachón in Chile.
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What kind of instruments will the Rubin Observatory use?
The Rubin Observatory will be equipped with the world’s largest camera dedicated to astronomy and astrophysics. The $168 LSSTCam has a 2-foot-wide (0.6m) focal plane with 189 individual 16-megapixel payload sensors, resulting in a stunning 3,200-megapixel image. It also has six of the largest optical filters ever made to view the universe at different wavelengths of light, according to official website of the telescope.
Equally impressive is the mount, which will move to a new position in just five seconds, allowing the camera to take a high-resolution image every 39 seconds. Fiber optics will carry each image into one supercomputer in California within two minutes for analysis. If there is anything new or changed in the image compared to a reference image, astronomers will be notified.
What will the Rubin Observatory look for?
The telescope data will be used for two purposes. The first is planetary protection. Its images are expected to detect about 90% of all potentially hazardous asteroids, which are defined as asteroids larger than 140 m in diameter that could come within 4.65 million miles (7.48 million kilometers) of Earth. This includes dangerous and elusive asteroids that are usually hidden in the glare of the sun.
In addition, the observatory should identify yet-to-be-seen interstellar comets, free-floating stars and rogue planets. One of the largest solar system objects it may discover is Planet Nine, a hypothetical world that could be lurking at the outer edges of our solar system. Experts say that within a year of the start of transmission, the giant telescope may have produced enough data to find the elusive world – or rule it out forever.
However, in the longer term, it will also detect thousands – or even millions – of supernovae, as well as galaxies and their structures, which could be crucial to our understanding of dark energy and dark matter.
When will the Rubin Observatory start work?
LSSTCam arrived at Cerro Pachón in May 2024, but science operations are still far away. They are expected to begin in late 2025 or early 2026, although alignment and test images are likely to be released in spring 2025, according to the observatory’s website.