Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2026

48 JULY-AUGUST 2026 ASTRO PUBLISHING Rubin Observatory reveals over 11,000 new asteroids by NOIRLab Josie Fenske U sing preliminary data from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Obser- vatory, scientists have discov- ered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the Interna- tional Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the largest single batch of asteroid discoveries submitted in the past year. The discoveries were made using data from Rubin’s early opti- mization surveys and offer a power- A model of the inner Solar System showing the asteroids discovered by Rubin in light teal. Known asteroids are dark blue. The model shows a total of al- most 12,700 asteroids that were discovered with Rubin over the span of 1.6 years: 73 were discovered during the first early test observations using Rubin’s Com- missioning Camera in late 2024 and released as part of Rubin’s Data Preview 1 in Summer 2025; 1514 were discovered during First Look observations in April and May 2025; and the recent 11,000+ asteroids were discovered using observations taken during Rubin’s early optimization surveys in Summer 2025. These are the August 2025 locations of the discovered objects. [NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Obser- vatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/R. Proctor. Acknowledgements: Star map: NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio. Gaia DR2: ESA/Gaia/ DPAC. Image Processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)]