{"id":17112,"date":"2025-06-20T22:30:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/the-rubin-observatory-is-throwing-a-big-party-to-reveal-its-first-pictures-and-youre-invited\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T22:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:30:16","slug":"the-rubin-observatory-is-throwing-a-big-party-to-reveal-its-first-pictures-and-youre-invited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/the-rubin-observatory-is-throwing-a-big-party-to-reveal-its-first-pictures-and-youre-invited\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rubin Observatory is throwing a big party to reveal its first pictures \u2014 and you\u2019re invited"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After more than 20 years of planning and construction, the&nbsp;Vera C. Rubin Observatory&nbsp;is ready for its grand opening, and the world is invited.<\/p>\n<p>The observatory in the foothills of the Chilean Andes features a&nbsp;monster of a telescope, with an 8.4-meter-wide (28-foot-wide) mirror, coupled with what\u2019s said to be the&nbsp;world\u2019s largest digital camera.<\/p>\n<p>It will survey the night sky every night for at least 10 years, producing about 20 trillion bytes of data every 24 hours. It would take you more than  three years of watching Netflix, or over 50 years of listening to Spotify, to use that amount of data,&nbsp;according to the Rubin team.<\/p>\n<p>The first images and videos are due to be unveiled on Monday, during a&nbsp;\u201cFirst Look\u201d webcast&nbsp;that will be shared online and at&nbsp;more than 300 in-person watch parties across the globe.<\/p>\n<p>What will the images look like?&nbsp;Mario Juric&nbsp;knows, but he isn\u2019t telling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cannot tell you what\u2019s on them, but I can tell you we just finished them, and they look amazing,\u201d Juric, a member of the Rubin team and the director of the University of Washington\u2019s&nbsp;DiRAC Institute, says on the&nbsp;Fiction Science podcast. \u201cI did not spend a day doing what I was supposed to be doing, because I just spent it browsing through the images. \u2026 I could teach an entire class by just zooming in on different parts of this image and explaining what this object is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border-radius:12px\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/259UtIbYmSATvlkFKu1AR9?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There could be a lot of teachable moments ahead: The observatory\u2019s Simonyi Survey Telescope is expected to detect millions of previously unseen celestial bodies in our solar system, potentially including a hypothetical world known as&nbsp;Planet X or Planet 9. It\u2019ll serve as an early warning system for transient cosmic phenomena such as supernovas or gamma-ray bursts. And it could help scientists shed new light on the mysteries behind&nbsp;dark energy and dark matter.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/juric1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-878151\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mario Juric (UW Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The dark matter angle is particularly apt, because the observatory is named after the late&nbsp;Vera Rubin, an astronomer who analyzed the rotation rates of galaxies to come up with some of the most solid evidence we have that invisible dark matter exists.<\/p>\n<p>Even before Rubin died in 2016, her fellow scientists were laying the groundwork for the observatory that would eventually bear her name. In 2003, they&nbsp;started discussing potential sites&nbsp;for what was then called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST.<\/p>\n<p>Juric recalls attending one of the early discussions in Seattle. At the time, astronomers were just finishing up a successful project known as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. \u201cPeople were asking, what do we build next? What\u2019s the next major step in this idea to go and digitize the cosmos?\u201d Juric says. \u201cAnd the idea was to build something like Rubin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2007, the project received a&nbsp;$30 million boost&nbsp;from Microsoft executive Charles Simonyi and the company\u2019s co-founder, Bill Gates. Eventually, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy kicked in&nbsp;hundreds of millions of dollars&nbsp;to support the observatory\u2019s construction in Chile.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mapping the Universe at the Rubin Observatory in Chile | BBC News\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6RBZqhIgllI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Turning data into discoveries<\/h3>\n<p>The observatory\u2019s&nbsp;Simonyi Survey Telescope&nbsp;features a unique three-mirror design that maximizes the instrument\u2019s field of view. It\u2019s made to move across a swath of sky in just a few seconds, allowing the&nbsp;LSST Camera&nbsp;to capture a 3,200-megapixel image in 15 seconds and then switch to take the next image five seconds later. That speed makes it possible for the observatory to map the part of the sky visible from the Southern Hemisphere in high resolution&nbsp;every three or four days.<\/p>\n<p>It takes less than 60 seconds to transfer each image over fiber-optic cables from Chile to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California for an initial round of processing. The flood of imagery is distributed to data centers around the world, and scientists can access and filter the data through an online portal.<\/p>\n<p>Astronomical data analysis is the specialty of UW\u2019s DiRAC Institute. Its name is an acronym, standing for&nbsp;<strong>D<\/strong>ata-<strong>i<\/strong>ntensive&nbsp;<strong>R<\/strong>esearch in&nbsp;<strong>A<\/strong>strophysics and&nbsp;<strong>C<\/strong>osmology. Astronomers have traditionally been \u201cphysicists who look up,\u201d Juric says, but he argues that working with Rubin\u2019s rush of data will require a new set of skills \u2014 the kinds of skills that are being taught at the DiRAC Institute.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou now need to become a data scientist, and you need to become a really good statistician,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of background that you\u2019re going to need to make sense out of all these data that Rubin is going to deliver to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A software tool that Juric helped develop, known as&nbsp;Sorcha, hints at the enormity of the task ahead. Sorcha makes predictions about how much data will be generated by the Rubin Observatory, and how many discoveries could be made as a result.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe number that I like to quote is, it took all of mankind about \u2026 225 years to discover the first one and a half million asteroids. And in less than two years, Rubin is going to double that, and then go on and triple that a few years later,\u201d Juric says.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/250618-firstphoton-630x460.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-878153\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/250618-firstphoton-630x460.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/250618-firstphoton-1260x919.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/250618-firstphoton-768x560.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/250618-firstphoton.jpg 1430w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">University of Washington astronomer Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin construction, joyfully raises his fist in the observatory\u2019s control room in Chile after seeing the first on-sky engineering data captured with the LSST Camera. (Credit: RubinObs \/ NOIRLab \/ SLAC \/ DOE \/ NSF \/ AURA \/ W. O\u2019Mullane)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are there anomalies ahead?<\/h3>\n<p>What about Planet 9, which astronomers have been trying to detect on the edge of the solar system for&nbsp;more than 10 years?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it\u2019s out there, we have something like a 70 or 80% chance to find it,\u201d Juric says. \u201cEven if we don\u2019t directly notice it, my guess is in about three years or so, that\u2019s how much time it will take us to accumulate this data to sufficient precision [that] we\u2019ll confidently be able to say whether it is there and just really, really hard to find \u2014 or whether this whole thing has been just us astronomers hoping a little bit too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s even a chance that the Rubin Observatory will pick up evidence of alien signals. Some astronomers, including UW\u2019s James Davenport, have&nbsp;speculated&nbsp;that Rubin could detect&nbsp;anomalous patterns that might be associated with extraterrestrial spaceships.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe nice thing with this telescope is, we\u2019re going to collect so much data that we\u2019ll be able to go and look for these rare, unusual, anomalous signals. And who knows, maybe one of them is an E.T. shining a laser at us,\u201d Juric says. \u201cIt\u2019ll be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"First Images from NSF\u2013DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory | #RubinFirstLook\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zv22_Amsreo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The fun begins at 8 a.m. PT on Monday when the&nbsp;First Look webcast&nbsp;goes online. \u201cA couple of days after that, on the 26th, we\u2019re going to have an extended version of that for the general public on the UW Seattle campus, at Kane Hall,\u201d Juric says. \u201cWe really invite everyone here from Seattle or the Pacific Northwest, however far you want to drive, to come over and see that with us in person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The&nbsp;in-person event&nbsp;on June 26 will start at 7 p.m. and feature an hourlong presentation about Rubin\u2019s first images. Speakers will include Juric as well as UW astronomer Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin construction; and Andrew Connolly, who was the DiRAC Institute\u2019s founding director and is now the director of UW\u2019s eScience Institute.<\/p>\n<p>Juric expects the fun, and the hard work of discovery, to continue for at least the next decade.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRubin should have the kind of impact that when we look at textbooks 10 years from now, almost every textbook has to change something because Rubin has added to that piece of human knowledge,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a fairly high bar to meet, but it is a big, expensive telescope. That\u2019s what we\u2019re aiming for: It\u2019s got to be transformational.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<p><em>Check out the Rubin Observatory website for more information about the project and for links to the First Look webcast on June 23, plus a list of watch parties. You can also learn more about the University of Washington\u2019s DiRAC Institute and find out how to register for the free UW presentation at 7 p.m. on June 26.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>My co-host for the Fiction Science podcast is Dominica Phetteplace, an award-winning writer&nbsp;who is a graduate of the&nbsp;Clarion West Writers Workshop and lives in San Francisco. To learn more about Phetteplace, visit her website, DominicaPhetteplace.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Fiction Science is included in&nbsp;FeedSpot\u2019s 100 Best Sci-Fi Podcasts. C<em><em>heck out&nbsp;the original version of this report on Cosmic Log&nbsp;to get&nbsp;<\/em><\/em>Juric\u2019s thoughts on the connections between science fiction and the Rubin Observatory\u2019s future discoveries. Stay tuned for&nbsp;future episodes of the&nbsp;Fiction Science podcast via Apple, Spotify, Player.fm, Pocket Casts and&nbsp;Podchaser. If you like Fiction Science, please rate the podcast and subscribe to get alerts for future episodes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After more than 20 years of planning and construction, the&nbsp;Vera C. Rubin Observatory&nbsp;is ready for its grand opening, and the world is invited. The observatory in the foothills of the Chilean Andes features a&nbsp;monster of a telescope, with an 8.4-meter-wide (28-foot-wide) mirror, coupled with what\u2019s said to be the&nbsp;world\u2019s largest digital camera. It will survey [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1661,4366,4419,4367,4368,4369],"class_list":["post-17112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astronomy","tag-dirac-institute","tag-fiction-science","tag-lsst","tag-university-of-washington","tag-vera-rubin-observatory"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}