Our vantage level throughout the Milky Approach signifies that, not like views of distant galaxies, we expertise a sky wealthy in complexity, with swirling mud and the faint glow of numerous stellar remnants. For hundreds of years humanity has seemed upward on the Milky Approach’s vibrant band and sought to grasp its construction, composition and place in our universe.
What’s it?
One of those ground-based telescopes is the Rubin Observatory, named after famed astronomer Vera Rubin. Unlike other telescopes, the Rubin Observatory is working to capture the night sky in real-time by scanning it every few nights, creating a digital movie of our universe.
Where is it?
The Rubin Observatory is located on Cerro Pachón in the Andes Mountains in Chile.
Why is it amazing?
To scan the skies in real time, the Rubin Observatory relies on the LSST camera, the largest digital camera ever built, that can image an area of the sky around 40 times the size of the full moon in a single exposure. As it runs, the LSST camera will produce tens of petabytes of data over the next decade. Astronomers hope to use this data to help tackle some of the most pressing cosmic questions, such as those around dark matter and dark energy or studying potentially hazardous asteroids that may collide with Earth.
Rubin’s data will be made publicly available during this process, empowering scientists and even citizen scientists worldwide to explore, analyze and make discoveries about our cosmos.
Want to learn more?
You can learn more about the Rubin Observatory and other ground-based telescopes.
