Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2025

5 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 Science and Technology Policy. “The Rubin Observatory is an investment in our future, which will lay down a cornerstone of knowledge today on which our children will proudly build tomorrow.” “Rubinwill capture more informa- tion about our Universe than all op- tical telescopes throughout history combined,” said Brian Stone, per- forming the duties of the NSF di- rector. “Through this remarkable scientific facility, we will explore many cosmic mysteries, including the dark matter and dark energy that permeate the Universe.” N SF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is seen here beneath the southern sky that it will image for ten years during the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. The Milky Way arcs overhead, and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) can be seen on the left. [RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/P. Horálek (Insti- tute of Physics in Opava)] T his image offers a stunning vari- ety of objects — from bright stars ranging from blue to red in color, to nearby blue spiral galaxies, to distant red galaxy groups — demonstrating the broad range of science made possible by Rubin data. Apart from a few foreground stars in our own Milky Way, the myriad specks of light captured here make up a rich tapestry of about 10 million galaxies— just 0.05% of the roughly 20 billion galaxies Rubin will image during its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). By the end of the survey, Rubin will have re- vealed this level of detail across the entire southern sky. [RubinObs/ NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA] mains at the forefront of interna- tional basic science and highlights the remarkable achievements we get when the many parts of the na- tional research enterprise work to- gether,” said Michael Kratsios, di- rector of the White House Office of