On 23 June 2025, the world’s largest digital camera released the first pictures of the universe, including colorful nebula, stars and galaxies. This camera is located in Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is situated on a mountain in Chile. This observatory is made up of funds of the American National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy and will study the southern sky for the next 10 years.
In its first pictures, the galaxies of the trifid and lagoon nebula as well as square clusters appeared. The goal of this observatory is to take pictures of 20 billion galaxies. To discover new estroid and other astronomical bodies.
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Vera C. Rubin Observatory: A new astronomical era
Vera C. Rubin Observatory is built on the Sero Pachon mountain of Chile, which is 2,682 meters above sea level. This place is ideal to see the night sky, as atmospheric intervention here is less. The main part of the Observatory is its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera, which is the largest digital camera ever. The cost of this camera is about 4000 crores. It took 20 years to make it.
It is named after Observatory Vera Rubin, who gave first evidence of dark matter in the 1970s. Dark matter is a mysterious substance, which forms about 27% of the universe, but does not appear. Scientists hope that this camera will help solve the secrets of dark matter and dark energy (68% of the universe).
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World’s largest digital camera
The technical features of the LSST camera make it special. This camera is so powerful that it can also see the golf ball on the moon. It has some major features …
Resolution: The 3.2 Ggpixel (3200 megapixel) camera, which is thousands of times better than the normal smartphone camera (12-48 megapixels). It captures 15 megabyte data in every picture, which produces 20 terabyte data every night.
Lens and Sensor: The camera has 5.1 feet wide primary mirror and 3.4 feet secondary mirror. It has 189 charge-boat device (CCD) sensors, which provide high resolution and sensitivity. According to NASA, this camera can take photos in 7 colors (bands), which indicates the color and structure of astronomical bodies.
Visual field (field of view): It covers 9.6 square degrees the sky at a time, which is equal to 40 full moon. It can scan the entire southern sky every three nights.
Data processing: The camera analyzes data using AI and machine learning. In 10 years it will collect 15 petabite data, which is equal to the video of millions of hours.
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First photos: glimpse of the universe
On June 23, 2025, Observatory released its first photos. These pictures include …
Trifid Nebula (M20): It is 8000 light-year away in the Sagittarius planetarium. Its name comes from three parts, which are made of dust and gas clouds. The picture shows red, blue and green clouds, which indicate the birth of stars.
Lagoon Nebula (M8): It is 4100 light-year away. 110 light-year is wide. It saw bright stars and gas clouds, which make it a colorful scene.
Square cluster: It is 54 million light-year away in the Virgo planetarium. It has more than 2000 galaxies, of which two blue spiral galaxies were special. This picture shows the vastness and beauty of the universe.
Note: A light year is about 9.46 lakh crores, which tells the distance of these bodies from the earth.
Observatory goals
The main goal of Vera C. Rubin Observatory is to understand the secrets of the universe. It has some major objectives …
Map of 20 billion galaxies: Observatory will take pictures of 20 billion galaxies and 17 billion stars in the next 10 years. This will help in understanding the development and structure of the universe.
Dark matter and dark energy: Vera Rubin gave evidence of dark matter in 1970, which affects the speed of the universe. Observatory will study the behavior of dark matter and dark energy, which accelerates the expansion of the universe. This camera can understand the reason for the rapid spread of the universe due to dark energy.
Asteroid and astronomical body: Observatory will discover millions of asteroids, comtes and kiper belts objects. This will monitor the dangerous estroid for the Earth.
Study of supernova and wires: This will record the birth of supernova blasts (end of wires) and new stars.