Chile observatory captures the universe with 3,200-megapixel camera
27 June 2025 18:09
SANTIAGO (Reuters) Chile's Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which boasts the world's largest digital camera, has begun displaying its first images of the cosmos, allowing astronomers to figure out how the solar system formed and even whether an asteroid poses a threat to Earth.Located on Pachon Hill in the northern region of Coquimbo, the 8.4-meter (27-1/2-foot) telescope has a 3,200-megapixel camera feeding a powerful data processing system."It's really going to change and challenge the way people work with their data," said William O'Mullane, a project manager focused on data at Vera Rubin.The observatory detected over 2,100 previously unseen asteroids in 10 hours of observations, focusing on a small area of the visible sky. Its ground-based and space-based peers discover in total some 20,000 asteroids a year.O'Mullane said the observatory would allow astronomers to collect huge amounts of data quickly and make unexpected finds."Rather than the usual couple of observations and writing an (academic) paper. No, I'll give you a million galaxies. I'll give you a million stars or a billion even, because we have them: 20 billion galaxy measurements," he said.The center is named after American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, a pioneer in finding conclusive evidence of the existence of large amounts of invisible material known as dark matter.Each night, Rubin will take some 1,000 images of the southern hemisphere sky, letting it cover the entire southern sky every three or four nights. The darkest skies above the arid Atacama Desert make Chile one of the best places worldwide for astronomical observation."The number of alerts the telescope will send every night is equivalent to the inboxes of 83,000 people. It's impossible for someone to look at that one by one," said astrophysicist Francisco Foster.
"We're going to have to use artificial intelligence tools."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Etihad
a day ago
- Al Etihad
Chile observatory captures the universe with 3,200-megapixel camera
27 June 2025 18:09 SANTIAGO (Reuters) Chile's Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which boasts the world's largest digital camera, has begun displaying its first images of the cosmos, allowing astronomers to figure out how the solar system formed and even whether an asteroid poses a threat to on Pachon Hill in the northern region of Coquimbo, the 8.4-meter (27-1/2-foot) telescope has a 3,200-megapixel camera feeding a powerful data processing system."It's really going to change and challenge the way people work with their data," said William O'Mullane, a project manager focused on data at Vera observatory detected over 2,100 previously unseen asteroids in 10 hours of observations, focusing on a small area of the visible sky. Its ground-based and space-based peers discover in total some 20,000 asteroids a year.O'Mullane said the observatory would allow astronomers to collect huge amounts of data quickly and make unexpected finds."Rather than the usual couple of observations and writing an (academic) paper. No, I'll give you a million galaxies. I'll give you a million stars or a billion even, because we have them: 20 billion galaxy measurements," he center is named after American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, a pioneer in finding conclusive evidence of the existence of large amounts of invisible material known as dark night, Rubin will take some 1,000 images of the southern hemisphere sky, letting it cover the entire southern sky every three or four nights. The darkest skies above the arid Atacama Desert make Chile one of the best places worldwide for astronomical observation."The number of alerts the telescope will send every night is equivalent to the inboxes of 83,000 people. It's impossible for someone to look at that one by one," said astrophysicist Francisco Foster. "We're going to have to use artificial intelligence tools."
Gulf Today
4 days ago
- Gulf Today
Four simple lifestyle changes reduce cognitive decline and dementia risk
The probability of any American having dementia in their lifetime may be far greater than previously thought. For instance, a 2025 study that tracked a large sample of American adults across more than three decades found that their average likelihood of developing dementia between ages 55 to 95 was 42 per cent, and that figure was even higher among women, Black adults and those with genetic risk. Now, a great deal of attention is being paid to how to stave off cognitive decline in the ageing American population. But what is often missing from this conversation is the role that chronic stress can play in how well people age from a cognitive standpoint, as well as everybody's risk for dementia. We are professors at Penn State in the Center for Healthy Aging, with expertise in health psychology and neuropsychology. Recent research shows that Americans who are currently middle-aged or older report experiencing more frequent stressful events than previous generations. A key driver behind this increase appears to be rising economic and job insecurity, especially in the wake of the 2007-2009 Great Recession and ongoing shifts in the labour market. Many people stay in the workforce longer due to financial necessity, as Americans are living longer and face greater challenges covering basic expenses in later life. Therefore, it may be more important than ever to understand the pathways by which stress influences cognitive ageing. Social isolation and stress Although everyone experiences some stress in daily life, some people experience stress that is more intense, persistent or prolonged. It is this relatively chronic stress that is most consistently linked with poorer health. In a recent review paper, our team summarised how chronic stress is a hidden but powerful factor underlying cognitive ageing, or the speed at which your cognitive performance slows down with age. It is hard to overstate the impact of stress on your cognitive health as you age. This is in part because your psychological, behavioural and biological responses to everyday stressful events are closely intertwined, and each can amplify and interact with the other. For instance, living alone can be stressful - particularly for older adults - and being isolated makes it more difficult to live a healthy lifestyle, as well as to detect and get help for signs of cognitive decline. Moreover, stressful experiences - and your reactions to them - can make it harder to sleep well and to engage in other healthy behaviours, like getting enough exercise and maintaining a healthy diet. In turn, insufficient sleep and a lack of physical activity can make it harder to cope with stressful experiences. Stress is often missing from dementia prevention efforts A robust body of research highlights the importance of at least 14 different factors that relate to your risk of Alzheimer's disease, a common and devastating form of dementia and other forms of dementia. Although some of these factors may be outside of your control, such as diabetes or depression, many of these factors involve things that people do, such as physical activity, healthy eating and social engagement. What is less well-recognised is that chronic stress is intimately interwoven with all of these factors that relate to dementia risk. Our work and research by others that we reviewed in our recent paper demonstrate that chronic stress can affect brain function and physiology, influence mood and make it harder to maintain healthy habits. Yet, dementia prevention efforts rarely address stress. Avoiding stressful events and difficult life circumstances is typically not an option. Where and how you live and work play a major role in how much stress you experience. For example, people with lower incomes, less education or those living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods often face more frequent stress and have fewer forms of support, such as nearby clinics, access to healthy food, reliable transportation or safe places to exercise or socialise - to help them manage the challenges of ageing. As shown in recent work on brain health in rural and underserved communities, these conditions can shape whether people have the chance to stay healthy as they age. Over time, the effects of stress tend to build up, wearing down the body's systems and shaping long-term emotional and social habits. Lifestyle changes to manage stress and lessen dementia risk The good news is that there are multiple things that can be done to slow or prevent dementia, and our review suggests that these can be enhanced if the role of stress is better understood. Whether you are a young, midlife or an older adult, it is not too early or too late to address the implications of stress on brain health and ageing. Here are a few ways you can take direct actions to help manage your level of stress: · Follow lifestyle behaviours that can improve healthy ageing. These include: following a healthy diet, engaging in physical activity and getting enough sleep. Even small changes in these domains can make a big difference. · Prioritise your mental health and well-being to the extent you can. Things as simple as talking about your worries, asking for support from friends and family and going outside regularly can be immensely valuable. · If your doctor says that you or someone you care about should follow a new health care regimen, or suggests there are signs of cognitive impairment, ask them what support or advice they have for managing related stress. · If you or a loved one feels socially isolated, consider how small shifts could make a difference. For instance, research suggests that adding just one extra interaction a day - even if it's a text message or a brief phone call - can be helpful, and that even interactions with people you don't know well, such as at a coffee shop or doctor's office, can have meaningful benefits. Walkable neighbourhoods, lifelong learning A 2025 study identified stress as one of 17 overlapping factors that affect the odds of developing any brain disease, including stroke, late-life depression and dementia. This work suggests that addressing stress and overlapping issues, such as loneliness, may have additional health benefits as well. However, not all individuals or families are able to make big changes on their own. Research suggests that community-level and workplace interventions can reduce the risk of dementia. For example, safe and walkable neighbourhoods and opportunities for social connection and lifelong learning - such as through community classes and events - have the potential to reduce stress and promote brain health. Importantly, researchers have estimated that even a modest delay in the disease onset of Alzheimer's would save hundreds of thousands of dollars for every American affected. Thus, providing incentives to companies that offer stress management resources could ultimately save money as well as help people age more healthfully. In addition, stress related to the stigma around mental health and ageing can discourage people from seeking support that would benefit them. Even just thinking about your risk of dementia can be stressful in itself. Things can be done about this, too. For instance, normalising the use of hearing aids and integrating reports of perceived memory and mental health issues into routine primary care and workplace wellness programs could encourage people to engage with preventive services earlier. Although research on potential biomedical treatments is ongoing and important, there is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease. However, if interventions aimed at reducing stress were prioritised in guidelines for dementia prevention, the benefits could be far-reaching, resulting in both delayed disease onset and improved quality of life for millions of people. Jennifer E. Graham-Engeland is a Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State. Martin J. Sliwinski is a Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State. The Independent
Al Etihad
5 days ago
- Al Etihad
Groundbreaking Vera Rubin Observatory reveals first images of deep space
23 June 2025 20:03 Washington (AFP) Breathtaking, swirling, multicolored galaxies and star-forming regions were revealed on Monday in the first images of deep space captured by the Vera Rubin Observatory in than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula -- both several thousand light-years from Earth -- glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The image reveals these stellar nurseries within our Milky Way in unprecedented detail, with previously faint or invisible features now clearly image offers a sweeping view of the Virgo Cluster of team also released a video dubbed the "cosmic treasure chest," which begins with a close-up of two galaxies before zooming out to reveal approximately 10 million more."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," said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology features an advanced 8.4-meter telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, supported by a powerful data-processing system. Roughly the size of a car and weighing 2.8 tons, the camera captures 3,200-megapixel images -- more than three times the resolution of the next most powerful instrument, Japan's Hyper Suprime-Cam, which records at 870 megapixels. 10-year flagship project Later this year, the observatory will begin its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Over the next decade, it will scan the night sky nightly, capturing even the subtlest visible changes with unmatched observatory, which cost roughly $800 million, is named after pioneering American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, whose research provided the first conclusive evidence for the existence of dark matter -- a mysterious substance that does not emit light but exerts gravitational influence on energy refers to the equally mysterious and immensely powerful force believed to be driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. Together, dark matter and dark energy are thought to make up 95% of the cosmos, yet their true nature remains observatory, a joint initiative of the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, has also been hailed as one of the most powerful tools ever built for tracking just 10 hours of observations, the Rubin Observatory discovered 2,104 previously undetected asteroids in our solar system, including seven near-Earth objects -- all of which pose no comparison, all other ground- and space-based observatories combined discover about 20,000 new asteroids per is also set to be the most effective observatory at spotting interstellar objects passing through the solar images from the observatory were expected to be released later hosts telescopes from more than 30 countries, including some of the world's most powerful astronomical instruments -- among them the ALMA Observatory, the most advanced radio telescope on upcoming Extremely Large Telescope, slated to begin operations in 2027, will enable observations of previously unreachable cosmic Chile's deserts, nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains, offer the clearest skies on the planet, thanks to minimal cloud cover and an arid climate. The Cerro Tololo Observatory has been the site of major discoveries, including the universe's accelerated expansion -- a breakthrough that earned Americans Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess, along with Australian Brian Schmidt, the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
