The world’s biggest camera unveiled its first images

Astronomers published the first-ever pictures from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory yesterday, in a move heralded as astronomy’s biggest moment since NASA revealed the first images from its James Webb Space Telescope.

• The Rubin telescope, which features a record-setting 3,200-megapixel digital camera, is located atop a mountain in central Chile and jointly operated by the US Energy Department and National Science Foundation (NSF).
• The scope’s state-of-the-art mirror design, highly sensitive camera, rapid survey speed, and advanced computing infrastructure each represent breakthroughs in their respective fields, according to Space.com.

Point and shoot…and shoot, and shoot

The facility is designed to map the Milky Way galaxy, and investigate the nature of dark energy and dark matter—mysterious substances comprising ~95% of the universe—by taking ~1,000 pictures/night for the next decade.

• Rubin is expected to cover the entire visible Southern Hemisphere sky once every three to four nights, with each composite image so detailed that displaying it would require 400 ultra-HD TV screens.
• “[The] Rubin Observatory will capture more information about our universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined,” per acting NSF director Brian Stone.

Case in point: In its first 10 hours of observation, Rubin already discovered 2,100+ previously unknown asteroids in our Solar System, and is expected to uncover millions more within two years. For reference, current telescopes spot a combined ~20,000 asteroids/year.