{"id":796815,"date":"2025-06-23T04:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=796815"},"modified":"2025-06-23T04:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T09:20:07","slug":"stunning-first-images-show-the-power-of-the-vera-c-rubin-observatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=796815","title":{"rendered":"Stunning first images show the power of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<figure class=\"ArticleImage\">\n<div class=\"Image__Wrapper\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"ArticleImageCaption\">\n<div class=\"ArticleImageCaption__CaptionWrapper\">\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Title\">The Trifid (upper-right) and Lagoon (centre) Nebulae as viewed with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Credit\">NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>A pink-and-blue feast of stellar nurseries and a dense cluster of our neighbouring galaxies appear in the first glimpses of space from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is set to transform our understanding of the universe with unprecedentedly detailed scans of the night sky.<\/p>\n<p>\n    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"See the stunning first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dDZ8pIOlNQc?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    <\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>These images, which were compiled from around 10 hours of observation from the Cerro Pach\u00f3n mountain in Chile, are tests that illustrate the sorts of shots Rubin is capable of capturing. The telescope\u2019s decade-long mission to observe the night sky each night, known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, will start later this year.<\/p>\n<p>The first image (above) contains the Trifid Nebula, the pink-and-blue ball in the upper-right quarter, which is a star-forming region in our galaxy surrounded by thousands of young stars. In the centre of the shot is the Lagoon Nebula, a vast cloud of interstellar gas and dust. To create this image, astronomers combined 678 different pictures taken over 7 hours by Rubin.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ArticleImage\">\n<div class=\"Image__Wrapper\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image lazyload\" alt=\"\" width=\"1350\" height=\"900\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 1288px) 837px, (min-width: 1024px) calc(57.5vw + 55px), (min-width: 415px) calc(100vw - 40px), calc(70vw + 74px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=300 300w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=400 400w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=500 500w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=600 600w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=700 700w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=800 800w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=837 837w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=900 900w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1003 1003w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1100 1100w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1300 1300w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1400 1400w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1500 1500w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1600 1600w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1674 1674w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1700 1700w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1800 1800w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=1900 1900w, https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg?width=2006 2006w\" src=\"https:\/\/images.newscientist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/20111726\/SEI_255988651.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-image-context=\"Article\" data-image-id=\"2485205\" data-caption=\"A small section of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's total view of the Virgo cluster\" data-credit=\"NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"ArticleImageCaption\">\n<div class=\"ArticleImageCaption__CaptionWrapper\">\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Title\">A small section of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory\u2019s total view of the Virgo cluster<\/p>\n<p class=\"ArticleImageCaption__Credit\">NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>The second image is a close-up of the Virgo cluster, a network of thousands of galaxies that has been known to astronomers for centuries. While its brightest members can be seen with simple telescopes, Rubin\u2019s view shows the entire cluster and the galaxies around it in extreme detail. The full zoomed-out image, which can be seen in the video above, reveals around 10 million galaxies.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"js-content-prompt-opportunity\"\/><\/p>\n<p>These are just 0.5 per cent of the 20 billion galaxies that Rubin will observe over its lifetime, helping shed light on mysteries such as dark matter and the possible existence of another planet in our solar system, known as Planet Nine.<\/p>\n<p>More pictures from the observatory will be released during a livestream today at 4pm BST (11am EDT), which stargazing fans will view at watch parties around the world.<\/p>\n<section class=\"ArticleTopics\" data-component-name=\"article-topics\">\n<p class=\"ArticleTopics__Heading\">Topics:<\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/2485201-stunning-first-images-show-the-power-of-the-vera-c-rubin-observatory\/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&#038;utm_source=NSNS&#038;utm_medium=RSS&#038;utm_content=space&#038;rand=772163\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Trifid (upper-right) and Lagoon (centre) Nebulae as viewed with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory A pink-and-blue feast of stellar nurseries and a dense cluster&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":796816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-796815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-scientist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=796815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/796816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=796815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=796815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=796815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}