The first images of distant stars and galaxies taken by the brand new, best and most powerful survey telescope in the world were on display in the dome and foyer of the Prague Planetarium. The event, called First Light from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, was organized by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (FZU). Astrophysicists and software engineers from the FZU have been collaborating on the construction of the observatory since the initial project plans in 2008. As a result, the FZU became one of the first international members of the predominantly American observatory.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory surpasses previous telescopes of its kind. It will take around 1,000 images of the southern sky every night. It’s able to capture the entire visible southern sky in three nights. This will reveal millions of new asteroids and comets. “In its first year alone, the observatory will collect more data than all previous optical observatories combined. This treasure trove of data is going to enable countless scientific discoveries and become an indispensable resource for generations of scientists. Thanks to the FZU's involvement in this ambitious project, FZU scientists will have full access to the observatory's data,” says Michael Prouza, astrophysicist and director of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
The telescope will also capture changes in the night sky that other telescopes might not detect. “I am glad that the Academy of Sciences and the entire Czech Republic are participating in this extraordinary project through the Institute of Physics,” says astronomer Soňa Ehlerová from the Astronomical Institute, a member of the Academic Council of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Martin Kupka, Minister of Transport, adds: “The new Vera Rubin Observatory telescope in Chile will bring further progress in space exploration for the Czech Republic. The telescope, which offers a resolution of 3,200 megapixels, will truly represent another significant step forward.”
The significance of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The universe has never been mapped in such depth and with such care. During the telescope's expected 10 years of operation, every part of the sky will be imaged approximately 1,000 times. This will create a kind of film of deep space. The survey will find a large number of objects that move across the sky or change their brightness. The telescope will map virtually all asteroids that could threaten Earth in the future. But its most important impact will be on cosmology — in particular, we expect it to significantly refine our knowledge of dark energy and dark matter. During its operation, the observatory will, for example, measure 250,000 remarkable Type Ia supernovae (“standard cosmological candles”) or accurately map the deformations caused by weak gravitational lensing in 20 billion galaxies throughout the universe.
What results do we expect?
The telescope is designed to collect data. The analyses based on this data will be essential. It is reported that the observatory can collect 20 terabytes of data per night, so over the course of ten years of research, petabytes of raw data will be collected, from which a large amount of derived data will be obtained. Data collection is focused on finding answers to the following questions:
- What is dark matter made of?
- How does dark energy work?
- How much material is there in the solar system, and which asteroids could collide with Earth in the future?
- What is the structure of our galaxy, and how is matter distributed within it?
About the observatory
The observatory is the result of 20 years of development and is located on Cerro Pachón in Chile, where dry air, minimal cloud cover, and dark skies create ideal conditions for observation. The telescope is equipped with the largest digital camera ever built, connected to a powerful data processing system.
The main mission will begin at the end of 2025: for 10 years, it will scan the sky every night and create a time-lapse, ultra-HD recording of the universe. It will reveal asteroids, comets, supernovae, pulsating stars, distant galaxies – and even previously unknown phenomena.
The observatory is named after American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, who provided convincing evidence of the existence of dark matter. The main goal of the observatory is to study dark matter, dark energy, and other cosmic mysteries.
Technical highlights
The telescope surpasses other survey telescopes in the size of its main mirror. With a diameter of 8.4 meters (roughly the height of a three-story house), it can collect much more light than other survey telescopes and capture even faint changes in the brightness of objects. A mirror of this size is among the largest that humans can manufacture. It was created in a special laboratory in Tucson, Arizona. The camera sensor is capable of capturing 3.2 billion pixels per image, i.e., it has a resolution of 3.2 gigapixels (a typical camera has about 50 megapixels). It is said that if you wanted to faithfully display a frame from the Vera Rubin Observatory's telescope camera point by point, you would need 400 HDR screens. The camera is capable of producing one frame of this quality per second.
“At the top of the observatory, several hundred servers process data so that within 60 seconds we know what’s in the sky. Just a few seconds after an image is captured, we also find out how well—or poorly—the telescope is focused, allowing us to adjust the optical settings accordingly,” says Petr Kubánek, software engineer and a member of the team programming parts of the telescope’s control system.
📘 Glossary:
- First light: A traditional milestone at major observatories, marking the first official images taken by a new telescope.
- Astronomical survey: Systematic observation of the same areas of the sky over time to continuously monitor and evaluate changes.
- Gravitational lensing: The distortion of the image of a distant object caused by the gravitational field of a closer object.
- Dark energy: A form of energy believed to drive the accelerated expansion of the universe. It accounts for about 70% of the universe’s total energy balance, but its nature remains completely unknown.
🔗 Useful links:
- www.fzu.cz/rubin-prvni-svetlo
(videos and photos from the event) - Rubin Observatory First Look Gallery
(videos and images – first official photos from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory; please credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory)