This image combines 678 separate images taken by NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in just over seven hours of observing time. Combining many images in this way clearly reveals otherwise faint or invisible details, such as the clouds of gas and dust that comprise the Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light-years away from Earth.
Image: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory was conceived nearly 30 years ago, and now we are finally seeing the first images captured by the world's largest camera. The Rubin Observatory teased a few photos ahead of the official reveal, with the full announcement and celebration taking place during a live stream.
Inside the observatory, along with a specially designed telescope, is the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera. It has a 3200-megapixel imaging surface and is made up of 189 individual sensors that are each larger than consumer-level medium-format sensors. The camera is larger than a car, producing an incredible amount of detail.
This image shows another small section of NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s total view of the Virgo cluster. Visible are two prominent spiral galaxies (lower right), three merging galaxies (upper right), several groups of distant galaxies, many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and more.
Image: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The team shared the image above during the presentation, but pointed out that it is only 2% of the full image. That's because the massive camera produces more data than what the human eye can see, and would require 400 Ultra HD TVs to display the full image. It also offers a field of view 45 times the area of the moon.
To allow people to appreciate the captures fully, Rubin Observatory built a special viewer on its website that allows you to zoom in and scan around the image. You can even create a special URL for the specific section (and zoom level) you are looking at, making it easier to share what you find in the massive images with others. A video was also revealed, which offers a unique perspective of what LSST is capturing.
Within just 10 hours, the Rubin Observatory already revealed new discoveries, including 2104 asteroids. The team says that it will be able to discover millions of new asteroids within the first two years of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, compared to 20,000 asteroids discovered annually by all other ground and space-based observatories. You can see all of the asteroids in the short video below.
This is just the start of what we will see from LSST and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Later this year, it will kick off a decade-long survey, which the team is calling the "ultimate movie of the night sky. " The Rubin Observatory will scan the sky repeatedly over the course of a decade, resulting in an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse of our Universe.
The survey will involve observations of about 40 billion stars, galaxies and other celestial objects. Each object will be checked hundreds of times, resulting in 60 petabytes of raw data, which the Rubin Observatory says is "more data than everything that's ever been written in any language in human history. "
Before that begins, though, there's still construction to finish. During the presentation, they said that they will be completing construction over the next three to four months, making sure everything is ready for the big project to begin. It isn't clear if they will be sharing more images during that time, though.
The observatory is jointly funded by the U. S. National Science Foundation and the U. S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Located on a mountain in Chile, it is named after U. S. astronomer Vera C. Rubin, famous for her dark matter research.
We'll be sure to share more images once they are released, but for now, you can watch the recorded live stream and check the Rubin Observatory's website to hear more about the project and goals for the observatory.
. dpreview.com2025-6-24 18:10