Vera Rubin Observatory reveals first images in Chile

The Vera Rubin Observatory, located in Chile, released this Monday (23) images of multicolored galaxies and star formation regions, the first of deep space captured by its telescope, the largest digital camera in the world.

After more than two decades of work, the giant telescope, funded by the United States, begins operating from the top of Cerro Pachón, in the center of the South American country, where the darkness and dry air offer ideal conditions for observing the cosmos.

One of the first images is a composite of 678 exposures taken in just seven hours, which captures the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula, both several thousand light-years from Earth, glowing in vivid pink hues against a red-orange background.

The photograph reveals these structures, thought to be stellar nurseries within the Milky Way, in unprecedented detail and features that were previously faint or invisible. Another image offers a panoramic view of the Virgo cluster of galaxies.

The team also released a video titled “The Cosmic Treasure Chest,” which begins with a close-up of two galaxies, before zooming out to reveal about 10 million more.

“The Rubin Observatory is an investment in our future, laying the foundation of current knowledge upon which our children will proudly build tomorrow,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

For Alejandra Voigt, vice president of Aura, the association that manages the observatory, the images “deliver new knowledge.” “We have never seen a piece of the Universe of this magnitude.”

“Multiple disciplines will benefit from the knowledge that Vera Rubin will generate every night for at least 10 years. Millions of questions have been asked that we have not been able to answer. We will provide information so that they can answer them.”

Equipped with an advanced 8.4-meter telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, Rubin is supported by a powerful data processing system.

Later this year, it will begin its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). For the next decade, it will scan the sky every night, capturing even the most subtle visible changes with unparalleled precision.

The observatory is named after pioneering American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, whose research provided the first conclusive proof of the existence of dark matter, a mysterious substance that does not emit light but exerts a gravitational influence on galaxies.

Dark energy refers to the equally mysterious and immensely powerful force believed to be driving the accelerated expansion of the universe. Dark matter and dark energy are thought to make up 95 percent of the cosmos, but their true nature remains unknown.

The observatory, a joint initiative of the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, is also hailed as one of the most powerful tools ever built for tracking asteroids.

In just 10 hours of observing, Rubin discovered 2,104 previously undetected asteroids in the Solar System, including seven near-Earth objects, all of which pose no danger.

For comparison, all other ground-based and space-based observatories combined discover about 20,000 new asteroids per year.

Rubin also stands out as the most effective observatory for detecting interstellar objects passing through the Solar System.

On Monday afternoon, the observatory plans to reveal more images.

– Chilean pride –

Chile is home to telescopes from more than 30 countries, including some of the world's most powerful astronomical instruments, including the ALMA Observatory, the most advanced radio telescope on Earth.

The upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (EXT), scheduled to come into operation in 2027, will allow observations of previously unattainable cosmic distances.

The deserts of northern Chile, located between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountain range, have the clearest skies on the planet thanks to minimal cloud cover and an arid climate.

The Cerro Tololo Observatory has enabled important discoveries, such as the accelerated expansion of the universe, an advance that earned Americans Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess, along with Australian Brian Schmidt, the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

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