World's largest digital camera to help new Vera Rubin Observatory make a 'time-lapse record of the universe' (video)
A major milestone with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has been reached with the installation of the telescope's enormous LSST Camera — the last optical component required before the last phase of testing can begin.
The car-sized Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Camera that was recently installed on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is the largest digital camera ever built and will be used to capture detailed images of the southern hemisphere sky over a decade.
"The installation of the LSST Camera on the telescope is a triumph of science and engineering," said Harriet Kung, Acting Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Science in a statement. "We look forward to seeing the unprecedented images this camera will produce."
The telescope is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science and is named after Dr. Vera C. Rubin, an American astronomer whose work provided strong evidence for the existence of dark matter. Along with her colleague Kent Ford, Rubin observed that in the numerous galaxies they studied, stars at the outer edges were moving just as fast as those near the center. This was unusual because, according to Newtonian physics and Kepler's laws of planetary motion, objects farther from the center of a gravitational system should orbit more slowly due to the weaker gravitational pull.
After accounting for all visible matter, the gravitational force from the observed mass wasn't enough to keep these fast-moving stars bound to the galaxy. Without additional mass providing extra gravitational pull, the galaxies should have been flying apart. This discrepancy led to the conclusion that an unseen form of mass, now known as dark matter, was holding them together.
Following its namesake, the Rubin telescope will investigate the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter with cutting-edge technology. Its state-of-the-art mirror design, highly sensitive camera, rapid survey speed and advanced computing infrastructure each represent breakthroughs in their respective fields.
Every few nights, it will survey the entire sky, creating an "ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the universe," the statement adds. Each image will be so massive that displaying it would require 400 ultra-high-definition TV screens.
"This unique movie will bring the night sky to life, yielding a treasure trove of discoveries: asteroids and comets, pulsating stars, and supernova explosions," states the observatory's website.
While the LSST Camera is an engineering marvel, its installation was equally challenging. In March 2025, after months of testing in Rubin Observatory's clean room, the summit team used a vertical platform lift to move the camera to the telescope floor. A custom lifting device then carefully positioned and secured it on the telescope for the first time.
RELATED STORIES:
— How Earth's new Rubin Observatory will usher in the next era of asteroid space missions
— Rubin Observatory aces 1st image tests, gets ready to use world's largest digital camera
— Scientists alarmed as Rubin Observatory changes biography of astronomer Vera Rubin amid Trump's push to end DEI efforts
"Mounting the LSST Camera onto the Simonyi Telescope was an effort requiring intense planning, teamwork across the entire observatory and millimeter-precision execution," said Freddy Muñoz, Rubin Observatory Mechanical Group Lead. "Watching the LSST Camera take its place on the telescope is a proud moment for us all."
Over the coming weeks, the LSST Camera's utilities and systems will be connected and tested. Soon, it will be ready to capture detailed images of the night sky. The Rubin telescope, under construction in Cerro Pachón, Chile, is expected to see first light in 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Archaeology student finds rare ninth-century gold 'within the first 90 minutes' of her first excavation
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An archaeology student from Florida struck gold in the U.K. just 90 minutes into her first-ever excavation, when she discovered a rare ninth-century artifact that may have had a religious or ceremonial use. "I couldn't believe I'd found something so quickly into my first excavation," Yara Souza, a student at Newcastle University in the U.K. who is from Orlando, Florida, said in a statement. "It was actually quite overwhelming," she said, and "I was really geeking out over it!" The enigmatic gold object is just 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) long and is shaped like a small knob. It is nearly identical to — but a bit larger than — a similar item discovered by a metal detectorist in 2021. That artifact has been identified as a ball-headed pin dated to roughly A.D. 800 to 1000, during the early medieval period. Both gold artifacts were found at the same location near a major ancient Roman road, now called Dere Street, in the county of Northumberland in northeast England. This road was important in Roman times for sending supplies into the northernmost extent of the empire in Scotland in the second century. Because gold was associated with high status, experts think the two similar artifacts are connected and may have had a ceremonial or religious use, rather than being a simple accessory. Related: 600-year-old amethyst 'worthy of a duke' found in medieval castle moat in Poland "We know that Dere Street continued to be a major thoroughfare long after the Romans," James Gerrard, a professor of Roman archaeology at Newcastle University who led the excavation, said in the statement. "It is possible that this pair of objects may have been deliberately buried." RELATED STORIES —Medieval gold ring found in castle in Slovakia has rare purple sapphire imported from Sri Lanka —Apollo gold ring with 'healing serpent' found in 2,000-year-old tomb in Greece —Medieval crowns of Eastern European royalty hidden in cathedral wall since World War II finally recovered Both objects will be analyzed further through the U.K.'s Portable Antiquities Scheme. "This project is a great example of how metal detectorists and archaeologists can come together to add to our understanding of the past in Northumberland," Andrew Agate, the finds liaison officer for North East England, said in the statement. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
A real-life Pandora? Newfound 'disappearing' planet in our neighboring star system could have a habitable moon, just like the Avatar movies
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A potential gas giant recently discovered orbiting in the habitable zone of one of the closest stars to Earth could have a moon capable of sustaining life — just like the alien world "Pandora" from the "Avatar" movies, researchers have speculated. However, there is currently no evidence to suggest that such a moon exists or that it could support life. In fact, scientists are still unsure if its host planet is actually where they think it is. A study published Aug. 11 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters revealed the potential discovery of a Saturn-size gas giant, dubbed S1, orbiting Alpha Centauri A — one of three stars that make up the Alpha Centauri system, which lies roughly 4.25 light-years from our own solar system. The potential exoplanet, which likely orbits its home star at up to twice the distance between Earth and the sun, was initially spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in August 2024. However, the powerful telescope failed to spot the world again when it was expected to become visible in February and April this year, leading to it being dubbed a "disappearing planet." Researchers believe that S1's orbit may have moved it in front of Alpha Centauri A, making it much harder for JWST to spot the gas giant. By their calculations, it should become visible again in 2026 and 2027, meaning we will need to wait a few more years before we can be certain of its existence. But if it is eventually confirmed, "It would be the most significant JWST discovery to date," study co-author Stanimir Metchev, an exoplanet researcher at Western University in Ontario, told Live Science. Related: Proposed spacecraft could carry up to 2,400 people on a one-way trip to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri To date, only two planets have been confirmed within our adjacent neighborhood, both of which orbit Proxima Centauri — the closest star to Earth, which circles the binary star pair of Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B. But as our closest stellar neighbors, the idea of traveling to Alpha Centauri and potentially establishing a human colony there has long piqued humanity's interest in both science and science fiction. The triple stars' most notable sci-fi inclusion is probably in the "Avatar" franchise, as the home system of Pandora — the fictional homeworld of the blue-skinned aliens, known as the Na'vi, who go to war with humans who invade the moon (which purportedly orbits a gas giant) after traveling to Alpha Centauri on interstellar starships in the 22nd century. Interestingly, S1 is likely around the same size as Polyphemus, the fictional gas giant orbited by Pandora. And both S1 and Polyphemus also supposedly reside within Alpha Centauri A's habitable zone, where there are suitable conditions for extraterrestrial life to emerge. Real-life Pandora? Until now, the idea that there could be a real-life Pandora in Alpha Centauri seemed like a very long shot. But if S1 is confirmed to be a real planet, there is a high chance that it could have a number of moons. "I would expect that there are probably moons there," Mary Anne Limbach, an exoplanet researcher at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the new study, told NPR. "Moon formation around giant planets generally should be quite common." In our own solar system, for example, the largest gas giants Jupiter and Saturn have a combined 369 natural satellites at the latest count, including sizable moons such as Titan, Europa, Io, Ganymede, Enceladus and Mimas, some of which may even be capable of supporting life themselves. Related: 32 alien planets that really exist But if S1 does have a moon, what are the chances that it can support some form of extraterrestrial life? The answer likely lies in how large it is. Limbach said she is "optimistic" that S1 could support a Mars-size moon, which would make it large enough to have its own atmosphere and large surface oceans, similar to those found on Earth. However, David Kipping, an exoplanet researcher at Columbia University in New York who was not involved in the new study, is more skeptical and told NPR that any moon around S1 would likely only grow to the size of Titan, which is around two-thirds the size of Mars but slightly larger than Mercury. RELATED STORIES —NASA finds signs of hellish, lava-covered 'exomoon' circling an alien world — and it could meet a 'destructive end' —'Unstable' moons may be obliterating alien life across the universe —James Webb telescope's 'shocking' discovery may hint at hidden exomoon around 'failed star' At this size, the moon is unlikely to be able to hold together an atmosphere, making extraterrestrial life — especially on the scale seen in the "Avatar" movies — very unlikely. Therefore, to get a real-life Pandora, "you need this planet to have an unexpectedly big moon," Kipping said, though he added that "it's not impossible." The next challenge, if and when S1 is confirmed to exist, will be to spot any potential exomoons surrounding it. However, this could be tricky as exomoons are notoriously hard to spot, as they are so much smaller and colder than planets. Therefore, we may need to wait for a space telescope several orders of magnitude more powerful than JWST to see anything, which could take decades. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
See the universe's rarest type of black hole slurp up a star in stunning animation
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Astronomers think they have detected an extremely rare type of "missing link" black hole chowing down on a helpless star at the edge of a distant galaxy — and they've shared a stunning animation showing what this superbright stellar massacre may have looked like. Black holes come in a range of sizes, from primordial singularities smaller than the sun to supermassive black holes that are up to 40 billion times more massive than our home star and hold together galaxies such as the Milky Way. There are also medium-size versions, known as intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs), which range from 100 to 100,000 solar masses. We know little about these medium-size objects, however, as they are incredibly hard to find. IMBHs are elusive because they are not big enough to produce energy jets or bind galaxies together, and they are often confused with clusters of smaller "stellar mass" black holes left over from collapsed stars. Researchers also think IMBHs may hide behind small groups of stars that closely orbit them without being ripped apart. The most reliable way to spot IMBHs is indirectly, by measuring the masses of merging black holes or by catching them in the act of consuming a star. To date, around 300 IMBH candidates have been spotted, but there is no way of knowing how many of these are real. In a study published April 11 in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers reported that they'd spotted another promising IMBH candidate, dubbed HLX-1, which is located around 40,000 light-years from the center of the galaxy NGC 6099 and more than 450 million light-years from Earth. Related: Watch a star get destroyed by a supermassive black hole in the 1st simulation of its kind By combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the study team believes they have spotted a bright flash, or "tidal disruption event," caused by the black hole devouring a neighboring star. The researchers also used computer simulations to predict how this cosmic murder played out and produced an animation showing HLX-1 ripping apart — or "spaghettifying" — its stellar victim (see below). Astronomers first saw a bright source of X-rays coming from HLX-1 in images taken by Chandra in 2009. Researchers think this bright light was a tidal disruption event, which occurs when stars get ripped apart by black holes, generating a flash of radiation. The high-energy light coming from the suspected black hole peaked in 2012 and has gradually dimmed ever since. However, as with many other IMBH candidates, it is not 100% certain that HLX-1 is a genuine IMBH. The light could also be caused by an accretion disk — a swirling ring of superhot matter surrounding the black hole's event horizon — that is fluctuating in size. The only way to tell which explanation is more likely is to monitor the light source. If it continues to dim without additional flare-ups, then it probably generated a tidal disruption event. In addition to being rare, IMBHs are important because of what they can tell us about other black holes. They "represent a crucial missing link in black hole evolution between stellar mass and supermassive black holes," study lead author Yi-Chi Chang, a researcher at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan, said in a statement. One theory about IMBHs is that they may start as large stellar-mass black holes and eventually grow into supermassive black holes over billions of years. For this to happen, they may spend most of their lives on the outskirts of galaxies, like HLX-1, before they are catapulted into intergalactic space. Some researchers even suspect that a similar IMBH may circle the fringes of the Milky Way. RELATED STORIES —A black hole 'assassin' ripped a star to shreds and left its guts strewn about the galaxy —Black holes keep 'burping up' stars they destroyed years earlier, and astronomers don't know why —Scientists discover closest star-shredding black hole to Earth ever seen To support this theory, astronomers are now on the lookout for more potential tidal disruption events on the edges of other galaxies. Recent technological advancements, including the James Webb Space Telescope, have shown promise in detecting these missing links. The study team also noted that the newly operational Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which recently released its spectacular first images, may be able to detect tidal disruption events in visible light. Solve the daily Crossword
