Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2025

6 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2025 Rubin Observatory will also be the most efficient and effec- tive Solar System dis- covery machine ever built. Rubin will take about a thousand images of the South- ern Hemisphere sky every night, allow- ing it to cover the entire visible South- ern sky every three to four nights. In doing so, it will find millions of unseen asteroids, comets and interstellar ob- jects. Rubin will be a game changer for planetary defense by spotting far more asteroids than ever before, potentially identifying some that might impact the Earth or Moon. The amount of data gathered by Rubin Observatory in its first year alone will be greater than that col- lected by all other optical observa- tories combined. This treasure trove of data will help scientists make countless discoveries about the Uni- verse and will serve as an incompa- rable resource for scientific explo- ration for decades to come. Rubin Observatory is a joint pro- gram of NSF NOIRLab and DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Labora- tory, who will cooperatively oper- ate Rubin. NOIRLab is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). “The unveiling of Rubin Observa- tory’s first images marks the begin- ning of a new era in astrophysics,” says Patrick McCarthy, Director of NSF NOIRLab. “We congratulate the Rubin Observatory team for this great achievement and look forward to the beginning of the T his long-exposure image shows the inside of NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Obser- vatory at night during the First Look observation campaign. [RubinObs/NOIR- Lab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/P. Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)] “We’re entering a golden age of American science,” said Harriet Kung, acting director of DOE’s Office of Science. “Rubin reflects what’s possible when the federal government backs world-class engi- neers and scientists with the tools to lead. This facility will drive dis- covery, inspire future innovators and unleash American excellence through scientific leadership.” The result of more than two dec- ades of work, Rubin Observatory is perched at the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile, where dry air and dark skies provide one of the world’s best observing locations. Rubin’s innovative 8.4-meter tele- scope has the largest digital camera ever built, which feeds a powerful data processing system. Later in 2025, Rubin will begin its primary mission, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, in which it will ceaselessly scan the sky nightly for 10 years to precisely capture every visible change. The result will be an ultrawide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the Universe. It will bring the sky to life with a treasure trove of billions of scien- tific discoveries. The images will re- veal asteroids and comets, pul- sating stars, supernova explosions, far-off galaxies and perhaps cosmic phenomena that no one has seen before. Rubin Observatory is named in hon- or of trailblazing U.S. astronomer Vera C. Rubin, who found conclu- sive evidence of vast quantities of invisible material known as dark matter. Understanding the nature of dark matter, dark energy and other large-scale cosmic mysteries is a central focus of Rubin Observa- tory’s mission. Dark energy is what scientists call the mysterious and colossally powerful force that ap- pears to be causing galaxies in the Universe to move away from each other at an accelerating rate. Al- though dark matter and dark en- ergy collectively comprise 95% of the Universe, their properties re- main unknown.