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A sneak preview of the first batch of deep space imagery from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile made their way to news sites and social media on Monday, followed by a livestream event.
In a post, the observatory said, "(The Rubin Observatory is) going to build the greatest time-lapse movie of the cosmos ever made."
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy's Office of Science. The observatory is named for the American scientist widely credited for finding some of the first evidence of dark matter. On Monday, the scientists and officials from the NSF and DOE participated in a press conference and Q&A about the findings.
You can watch the stream below.
Big images, millions of galaxies
Though the livestream was plagued by a few technical issues, it still offered some context on what data is being captured at the Rubin Observatory, and why.
"Starting today, our ability to understand dark matter, dark energy and planetary defense will grow even faster than ever before," said Brian Stone, the NSF's chief of staff.
The observatory's 3,200 megapixel camera is used for a full-sky scan that happens every three to four days. Stunning images that the observatory shares are only a fraction of what is being captured, in some cases showing only 2 percent of the full view, which would require 400 HDTVs to show in full.
One image can capture 10 million galaxies. More locally, astronomers have discovered 1 million asteroids in our solar system and expect to discover 5 million more in the next few years.
