The start of full operations at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, whose development and science programme involve researchers from FZU, attracted wide attention from Czech media. Czech Television, Czech Radio and several print and online outlets covered the launch of the ten-year survey of the southern sky. Here is a selection of the most interesting coverage.
On the night of 30 June, the large survey telescope in the Chilean mountains began imaging the sky in full operation. It can capture the entire southern sky in just three nights and will keep doing so for ten years. The result will be the most detailed time-lapse record of the night sky ever made. The telescope is equipped with the world's largest digital camera and a mirror 8.4 metres in diameter.
You can view the observatory's first images, including the 1.7-gigapixel "Ocean of Stars", in our article.
Czech Television
Czech Television viewers learned about the launch from the main evening news programme Události (30 June 2026). The ČT24 website explored the topic further in its own article, explaining that the observatory will register millions of changes in the sky every night and capture objects beyond the reach of previous telescopes.
Czech Radio
The observatory appeared on Czech Radio several times in a single day, across a varied range of stations. The news featured on the afternoon edition of Radiožurnál, on ČRo Wave, aimed at younger audiences, and in the morning broadcast of the regional station ČRo Hradec Králové.
The iROZHLAS.cz news site focused on what scientists expect from the observatory. According to Michael Prouza, it will discover tens or even hundreds of thousands of asteroids in the Solar System and millions of new variable stars in our Galaxy, and it will image billions of galaxies. The regional website of the Hradec Králové station also reported on the involvement of Czech scientists.
Print and online media
Other outlets covered the start of the ten-year sky survey as well. Aktuálně.cz described the year of preparations during which the team fine-tuned the telescope for full operation. As Petr Kubánek explains in the article, the behaviour of the primary mirror was tested directly in the conditions of Cerro Pachón.
Novinky.cz covered the participation of Czech researchers, and the FZU press release was picked up by Sciencemag.cz, Vědavýzkum.cz and TechFocus.cz. The observatory received the most extensive coverage in Nedělní Blesk, which devoted three full pages to it, bringing it to readers well beyond the usual science audience.