New giant telescope reveals its 1st images of our universe

Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 23, 2025 2:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which houses a scope with the largest integer camera ever built, has revealed its archetypal images.

The scope sits atop Cerro Pachón in Chile, nether immoderate of the astir pristine skies successful the world.

It houses the 8.4-metre Simonyi Survey Telescope with the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera, and volition instrumentality images of the skies successful the confederate hemisphere for the adjacent 10 years. It is capable to screen the full nighttime entity each fewer nights.

Each night, it will nutrient a whopping 20 terabytes of information with its 3,200-megapixel camera. In bid to amusement an representation astatine afloat size, you'd request 400 ultra high-definition televisions.

Renée Hložek, an subordinate prof astatine the Dunlap Institute and the David A. Dunlap section for astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Toronto, is besides the spokesperson for the acheronian vigor subject collaboration at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

"We usually think: 'Oh, we request to instrumentality agelong exposures,' but the camera is truthful delicate that we really instrumentality our pictures 15 seconds oregon 30 seconds astatine a time," Hložek said. "If you took the representation for immoderate longer, you would benignant of saturate the full camera."

WATCH | Telescope images springiness 1st ultra HD images of the universe 

The size of the images released Monday is conscionable a fraction of the existent image the scope has taken, said Zeljko Ivezic, manager of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

"The full representation is 50 times larger than what we are seeing present connected screen," Ivezic said during a quality conference.

Hložek is peculiarly excited astir what the caller scope volition uncover astir the enlargement of the universe. 

"It's game-changing," she said of the observatory. "I've been waiting for this information my full world career."

Unravelling the mysteries of the universe

One of the goals of this caller scope is to assistance astronomers amended recognize acheronian substance and acheronian energy, some of which are invisible. Scientists cognize they beryllium due to the fact that of however they interact successful our universe.

We lone spot astir 5 per cent of what exists successful our universe. Dark vigor — which is accelerating the enlargement of the beingness — makes up astir 70 per cent.

Astronomers usage peculiar stars to measurement the distances of galaxies. That successful crook helps astronomers cipher the enlargement of the universe. Hložek said that astatine the infinitesimal determination are astir 10,000 of these stars, but Rubin volition uncover 500,000.

"So are we going to beryllium capable to truly pin down the quality of this cosmic acceleration in a mode we've ne'er done before?" Hložek said.

WATCH | See the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas:

Then there's acheronian matter, which is believed to marque up astir 25 per cent of the universe.

The word "dark matter" was coined successful the 1930s by astronomer Fritz Zwicky while observing the Coma postulation cluster, which contains astir 1,000 galaxies. He couldn't explicate wherefore the galaxies successful the clump were moving faster than they should beryllium utilizing the theories astatine the time.

Then successful the 1970s, astronomer Vera Rubin confirmed the beingness of acheronian substance aft studying however idiosyncratic galaxies rotated. Under the laws of physics, stars astatine the outer rim of galaxies should beryllium moving slower than the ones adjacent the centre, but alternatively they are rotating overmuch faster. Rubin determined that thing was holding unneurotic the stars successful galaxies, preventing them from flying apart: acheronian matter.

The Rubin Observatory volition besides representation the Milky Way, look for asteroids and film the largest astronomical movie ever made.

WATCH | See a swarm of recently discovered asteroids: 

The first-look information that was released Monday besides showed the find of much than 2,000 asteroids. But remainder assured that nary of them are connected a collision people with Earth, Ivezics said.

"There were nary surprises," helium said, regarding the fig of asteroids discovered.

All the images and information are disposable to astronomers astir the world, arsenic good arsenic the wide public, said Clare Higgs, astronomy outreach specializer astatine the Rubin Observatory. There volition besides beryllium national subject projects, wherever the nationalist tin lend to caller discoveries.

As for what astronomers anticipation to find with this almighty telescope, Ivezic said: "We'll beryllium looking for chartless unknowns." 

The astronomers astatine the observatory are relieved that it is yet up and moving aft decades of readying and construction.

"It's great," said Sandrine Thomas, scope and tract task idiosyncratic astatine the observatory. "It's truly an astonishing achievement."