The largest digital camera ever built has released its first images of the universe — showcasing colourful nebulas, stars, and distant galaxies.
Located on a mountaintop in Chile, the Vera C Rubin Observatory was designed to explore the night sky in greater depth, especially its hidden regions. It is funded by the US National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy and will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years.
Photo: AP
Among the observatory’s first images are the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas, located thousands of light-years from Earth (one light-year equals nearly 6 trillion miles). The observatory also captured a group of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster, including two bright blue spiral galaxies.
The telescope aims to image 20 billion galaxies and uncover new asteroids and other celestial objects.
Named after astronomer Vera Rubin — who provided early evidence of the mysterious substance known as dark matter — the observatory hopes to shed light on both dark matter and dark energy with its powerful new camera.