Vera C. Rubin telescope images are now coming in
The Rubin space telescope uses a gigantic 3.2 billion pixel camera. The telescope is in Chile. The images coming back contain far more content than the human eye can see or that any screen can show.
After a decade of construction, the completed telescope recorded its first photons or bits of light on April 15. The first image was not perfect. Instead of dots of light, stars showed as doughnuts. But seeing doughnuts rather than smeared blurs meant the mirrors were not far out of alignment. After a few adjustments, the doughnuts turned into dots.
Pink clouds in the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas
Narrated video from the observatory
After a decade of construction, the completed telescope recorded its first photons or bits of light on April 15. The first image was not perfect. Instead of dots of light, stars showed as doughnuts. But seeing doughnuts rather than smeared blurs meant the mirrors were not far out of alignment. After a few adjustments, the doughnuts turned into dots.
Rubin is not the largest telescope in the world, but it is a technological masterpiece. The main structure of the telescope consists of a 28-foot-wide primary mirror, an 11-foot-wide secondary mirror and the world’s largest digital camera. All of that 300 tons floats on a thin layer of oil. Magnetic motors twirl the whole structure around. At full speed, completes one full rotation in ~35 seconds. Such high-speed operation allows Rubin to quickly pan across the sky, taking some 1,000 photos per night.
Asteroid swarm
By Germaine: Really likes science
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