NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory

Look what just flew into view! 🪶✨ Meet the Seagull Nebula as seen by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's engineering test camera, ComCam. Two years ago this month, ComCam began on-sky testing — the first time Rubin opened its eye to the sky! 🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-c...

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Meet our Solar System's newest dwarf planet candidate: 2026 ED138! Orbiting past Pluto, scientists found it in NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory data from earlier this year. Early analysis suggests it's ~600–1500 km across, one of the largest found past Neptune!🔭🧪 🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-f...

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More observations are still needed to confirm its size, but its discovery shows that there are still large objects out there waiting to be found! 🔭🧪 This is just the beginning for Rubin 🤩☄️ 🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-f...

🗣️ This is your flight captain speaking 🪶✈️ Keep your seatbelts fastened as we glide across NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view of the Seagull Nebula! 🔭🧪 On your screen, you’ve got a front-row seat to young stars reshaping their stellar neighborhoods. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!🪽

rubinobservatory.orgSeagull Nebula Through the Eyes of NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Commissioning Camera | Rubin ObservatoryTwo years ago this month, NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s engineering test camera, named the LSST Commissioning Camera (ComCam), began capturing images of the sky to prepare for the revolutionary ...

Explore this new image of the Seagull Nebula at rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-c... 🎥: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

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At 144 megapixels, ComCam was Rubin’s warm-up act before the giant 3200-megapixel LSST Camera took the stage. This image release today commemorates that first 7-week on-sky period two years ago, which paved the way for #RubinFirstLook and the start of full science operations.

rubinobservatory.orghttps://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-comcam-seagull-nebula

Not bad for a first observing run, right? 🔭 Read more about this image: rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-c... . . . 📸: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

Those glowing pink clouds are hydrogen gas energized by intense radiation from newborn stars. The blue haze shows cosmic dust scattering starlight, while the seagull’s piercing “eye” is a massive young triple-star system known as HD 53367.

When galaxies collide, their stars usually don't! 🤯 Stars are separated by enormous distances, so most pass right by each other. But mutual gravity during a collision warps the galaxies’ shapes, and their gas clouds *can* collide and potentially trigger new star formation. 🔭🧪

This pair of merging galaxies can be seen in Rubin's view of the COSMOS field ➡️ rubinobservatory.org/gallery/imag... 📸: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

Zoom in for millions of galaxies 🌌 This is NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s view of the Virgo Cluster, a bustling neighborhood of galaxies in various shapes, sizes, & colors. 🔭🧪 In all, there are over 10 million galaxies in this view 🤯 🎥: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

Not everything in the Universe glows… Dark nebulae are dense clouds of gas and dust that block light from behind, creating inky silhouettes. 🔭🧪 🔎 A few spooky spots to find in NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view of the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae: 1️⃣ Barnard 85 2️⃣ Barnard 89 3️⃣ Barnard 302 and 303

We recently had a couple of very special visitors at NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory: Andean condors! 🦅 They're some of the largest flying birds on Earth, with wingspans more than 10 feet (3 m). Soaring with air currents, they can go huge distances while barely flapping their wings! 🔭🧪

A night at NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory✨ Beneath the Milky Way, Rubin shares the scene with the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and the faint red Cobold Nebula. 🔭🧪 Over the next decade, Rubin will scan this sky over and over, building an ever-deeper view of the changing Universe🌌

📷: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/P. Horálek

Spooky vibes for spooky month 👻🌌 The more you look at this region of NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s Ocean of Stars, the more emerges. Wispy galactic cirrus veils stars and distant galaxies, while thousands of spiral galaxies, smooth galaxies, shell galaxies, & more lurk in the depths. 🔭🧪

While mountains give us high-altitude dark skies, they disrupt smooth airflow, forcing the air to break into turbulent pockets. This atmospheric jitter is called "seeing." NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory was intentionally built where coastal airflow passes smoothly over the ridge. 🔭🧪

It's October 3rd, so we're wearing pink! 🌸 On Cerro Pachón in Chile, nature puts on its own show during twilight, painting the sky and NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory in glowing pink. We can't really enforce a dress code for the cosmos, but the Chilean skies clearly got the memo.

If galaxies had signature dance moves, this one's would be the spiral swirl 💃🌀 Meet Z 36-24, a barred spiral galaxy with two swirly arms. Bars are a common feature in spiral galaxies, where the arms connect to a straight bar of stars across its center. 🔭🧪

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Z 36-24 is in the COSMOS field, one of the most studied patches of sky. NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's deep view reveals hundreds of thousands of galaxies here. By repeatedly observing the sky, Rubin will help scientists track huge populations of active galaxies over time.🔭🧪

skyviewer.appExplorer | Skyviewer

Explore this galaxy (and many more!) in Skyviewer: skyviewer.app/explorer?tar... 📷: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

And Z 36-24 has a very active center! 💥 At its heart is a supermassive black hole feeding on surrounding material. This makes the galaxy an “active galactic nucleus,” or AGN. Studying AGN helps scientists understand how black holes and galaxies evolve together.🔭🧪

Not a bad office view🌌 This image of NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory shows the Milky Way & the ghostly glow of zodiacal light caused by sunlight reflecting off Solar System dust. Zodiacal light is faint, but Cerro Pachón's dark skies make it possible to see! 🔭🧪

"Let's just take a closer look." Famous last words. NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory images reveal stars, galaxy clusters, nebulae, and a mindblowing number of distant galaxies hiding in the background. 🔭🧪 So go ahead. Zoom in. You might want to clear your schedule. ➡️ skyviewer.app

Choose your favorite NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory palette! 🎨✨ Rubin sees a wider range of colors than our eyes do, and when mapped to colors we do see: 🔴 Redder galaxies are farther. 🔵 Blue stars are hotter. 🌈 In the Trifid & Lagoon Nebulae, pink traces hydrogen while blue reveals hot stars. 🔭🧪

Welcome to Chile, SLAC LSST Camera team colleagues! They arrived from California last week for scheduled camera work during NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s planned engineering downtime. This engineering period will last about three weeks in total. 🔭🧪

Planned engineering periods are common in ground-based astronomy, especially in winter when the weather is less favorable. During this time, teams will do maintenance and other work that keeps the observatory running smoothly during the rest of the year! 🔧🔭🧪

📸: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/T. Lange

Imagine looking up and watching a star suddenly lose 99% of its light. These stars are a rare type of variable star called an R Coronae Borealis. They suddenly puff out huge clouds of dust, blocking nearly all their light for months before returning to normal.🔭🧪

We can't see inside stars — we really can only observe the light coming from their surfaces. But when a star changes in brightness, it can reveal clues about what's happening deep inside. That's why scientists are so interested in variable stars! 🔭🧪

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory will detect ~100 million variable stars during its 10-year survey, helping scientists uncover why some stars stay steady for billions of years while others rewrite the rules! 🔭🧪 🎥: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA

In the sky above NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory shines the Pleiades (M45): an open star cluster with at least 1000 stars!✨ Its bright stars are too bright for Rubin's sensitive camera to capture for study, but Rubin will observe many other clusters & help scientists study how stars evolve. 🔭🧪

Happy September equinox from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory! It's the first day of spring here in the south🌸 Equinox fun fact: day and night aren't exactly equal 👀 Atmospheric refraction and the way we define sunrise/sunset mean most places get slightly more than 12 hours of daylight! 🔭🧪

19 Sept

The Moon is showing off again🌕✨ It's International #ObserveTheMoon Night! 🌙 The Moon is dazzlingly bright — so bright that NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory will never point at it. But there are many Solar System objects that are incredibly faint, and that’s where Rubin shines.🔭🧪☄️

19 Sept

Our Solar System has millions of wandering asteroids and comets that are small, far away, and usually dark. Rubin Observatory excels at detecting faint objects, and it’ll reveal 10-100 times more Solar System objects than were known before! 🔭🧪☄️

19 Sept

📸: 1, 4: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/H. Stockebrand 2: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/P. Horálek 3: NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/Y. AlSayyad

18 Sept

¡Felices Fiestas Patrias!🇨🇱🎉 From Cerro Pachón, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory wishes our colleagues, neighbors, & the entire Chilean community a joyful celebration. 🔭🧪 Chile’s national holidays are celebrated as Fiestas Patrias: a time for food, dancing, loved ones, & Chilean pride🇨🇱

17 Sept

Meet LEDA 1205871 and LEDA 29228, two galaxies in NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view of COSMOS. 🔭🧪 They're “shell” galaxies, created when a larger galaxy absorbs a smaller one. These cosmic ripples preserve clues to past mergers, and Rubin’s sensitivity will help uncover many more 🌌

16 Sept

Just a piece of NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's Ocean of Stars 🌊✨ This galaxy is called MCG-06-33-009, and the blue knots in its spiral arms show where hot, young stars are forming. 🔭🧪 Rubin will capture billions of galaxies and enable scientists to study how galaxies grow and change 🌀

15 Sept

POV: Your background music is a bit…terrestrial. Try a cosmic soundtrack instead! 🎧🌌 Skysynth translates NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory’s data into sound — now with Rubin's view of COSMOS! 🔭🧪 Let it drift, or pan, zoom, and jump between different spots🎶 skyviewer.app/skysynth 🎶: SYSTEM Sounds

8 Sept

Just a normal camera, if “normal” means: 🔭 A 3.2-billion-pixel sensor 🌌 A field of view that could fit ~45 full Moons ⏱️ A new 8-gigabyte image every ~40 seconds NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's LSST Camera is the largest ever built (thanks SLAC!). Ok, maybe that's not normal. 🔭🧪

8 Sept

📷: 1. J. Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 2. LSST Camera Team/NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA 3. O. Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 4. NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/T. Lange

Universe, meet your astronomical dream team! 🤝 Two observatories, two different ways of seeing the cosmos, and a whole lot of potential for discovery when their observations come together. 🧪🔭☄️

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🛰️ NASA's Roman Space Telescope will capture sharp, wide-field views from space. Its crisp vision will reveal details that can be difficult to see from the ground, especially in crowded regions of the sky, while its infrared eye will peer through dust that blocks visible light. 🧪🔭☄️

Together, they'll give us a richer and more complete view of our dynamic Universe, leading to discoveries that neither dataset could reveal on its own! 🌌 🧪🔭☄️ 📷: 1. NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/P. Horálek 2. NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio