This composite of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae is one of the first images released by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

What do photos from the largest digital camera ever built look like? Now we know, with the first images released from The National Science Foundation–U.S. Department of Energy Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

They are stunning in their resolution. Each full image snapped by the observatory’s 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope and 3,200-megapixel LSST Camera would require 400 4K high-definition television screens to display at its original size, according to the observatory. It should come as no surprise, then, that once up and running the Rubin Observatory will produce on the order of 20 terabytes of data each night as it images the entire southern sky every three to four days during the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). It will do this for 10 years, building up an ultrawide and ultra-high-definition time-lapse view of the universe we have never before been privy to.

“Ruben Observatory’s main feature is its opening of the time domain and its enormous field of view,” said Yusra AlSayyad, who manages the observatory’s image-processing algorithms, during a June 9 press conference about the first look images.

The images released so far truly showcase that expansive field of view, from glowing nebulae to countless galaxies. And more are on the way: The National Science Foundation will be hosting a public press conference Monday morning, starting at 11 A.M. EDT, which will include additional images and videos that will capture more vast vistas as well as show off the telescope’s time-lapse capabilities.

Related: ‘First light’ images from Vera C. Rubin Observatory coming Monday: Here’s how to watch

But first, these breathtakingly deep wide-field images will blow you away.

The Trifid and Lagoon nebulae

This composite of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae is one of the first images released by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

This rich, vibrant image brimming with glowing gas and and scattered stars shows the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae (M20 and M8, respectively). The Trifid Nebula, named for the three lobes separated by the dark dust lanes of Barnard 85 that intersect at its center, is located at upper right. The much larger Lagoon Nebula, a well-known star-forming region, glows to its lower left, taking up the central portion of the image. Both nebulae are located located some 5,200 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. The galactic plane, where most of the stars, dust, and gas of the Milky Way reside, runs through this region, resulting in cosmic views you feel you could fall into.

This image is not one snapshot, but a composite of 678 separate images taken over the course of a little more than seven hours.

The Virgo Cluster

Named for its location in the constellation Virgo, the Virgo Cluster lies some 65 million light-years away and is home to more than 2,000 galaxies within a region of space spanning tens of millions of light-years and covering more than 8° on the sky.

An elliptical galaxy at upper right takes center stage in this portion of a larger image captured of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Spirals, interacting galaxies, and much more are visible in this small portion of a larger image taken of the Virgo Cluster by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Spirals, interacting galaxies, and much more are visible in this small section of a much larger image taken of the Virgo Cluster by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

These images show just two small sections of the Rubin Observatory’s total view of the cluster and include a variety of galaxy morphologies from big, bright, fuzzy ellipticals to delicate spirals and tiny dwarfs. Despite the Virgo Cluster’s size and reach, not every galaxy in these images is part of the cluster — many of the smaller galaxies scattered throughout the frame lie in the distant background. By contrast, any stars visible in the images are part of the Milky Way, sitting in the foreground.

“We selected fields that would showcase its enormous field of view, which allows you to zoom out and see large galaxies that are tidally interacting, but also zoom in and see the the dense background of galaxies,” said AlSayyad.

When we image the sky, three-dimensional space is compressed into a two-dimensional representation, so objects near and far overlap. Nonetheless, the Virgo Cluster is indeed a huge local concentration of galaxies, making it (and other galaxy clusters like it) a fascinating place to observe and the perfect place to study how galaxies interact and evolve over time.

The time dimension

In addition to its immense field of view view, the Rubin Observatory will also unlock new depths within time-domain astronomy, allowing astronomers to study objects such as pulsars, supernovae, variable stars, quasars, and much more in intricate detail and in real time as they change. And every change will trigger an alert sent out, so that researchers can quickly follow up in more detail.

“Since we take images of the night sky so quickly and so often, we’ll detect millions of changing objects literally every night,” said Aaron Roodman, the program lead for the LSST Camera and Deputy Director for the observatory’s construction, during the June 9 press conference. “We also will combine those images to be able to see incredibly dim galaxies and stars, including galaxies that are billions of light-years away.”

The Simonyi Survey Telescope sits inside the closed dome of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

A wealth of data

Light from astronomical objects bounces off each of the telescope’s three mirrors before entering the camera for imaging. Each image covers an area on the sky equivalent to 45 Full Moons, or 9.62 square degrees. Once the LSST is underway, every night the telescope will step through the sky snapping about 1,000 images per day, guided by an automated scheduler that takes into account factors such as weather and survey goals. The observatory will complete a full survey of the entire visible Southern Hemisphere sky from its location every three to four days, and then start again.

“The amount of data gathered by Rubin Observatory in just the first year of the LSST will be greater than that collected by all other observatories combined,” said Mike England, who moderated the June 9 briefing.

The LSST survey itself is expected to begin later this year. At the end of 10 years, AlSayyad said the data — with will include calibrations and measurements provided by the observatory — might top out at 500 petabytes. That includes some 800 images of every visible section of the sky, built up over those 10 years.

The LSST will ultimately produce trillions of measurements of billions of objects, helping astronomers better understand out cosmos in intricate detail and likely opening up new avenues of research and cause us to ask new questions we haven’t even thought of to ask today.

“Rubin Observatory is truly a discovery machine,” said Roodman. “It will enable us to explore galaxies, stars in the Milky Way, objects in the solar system, and all in a truly new way.”

Related: How Vera Rubin and Nancy Grace Roman transformed astronomy

> Science

We are about to get the first pictures from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory courtesy of its giant camera tonight. Scientists will unveil the images during a press conference on June 23. The first views will be presented during a livestream scheduled at 8:30 pm IST that you can watch on Rubin Observatory’s and the NSF’s official YouTube channels.

The Vera Observatory – a joint project between the US Department of Energy and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) – will use the 3,200 megapixel camera to observe the universe over the next ten years.

“From area of sky covered & number of pixels, to volume of data and discovery, Rubin will set records across the board. This won’t be science “business as usual.” Rubin is a discovery machine that will bring the night sky to life & revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos,” an official statement read.

According to the Rubin Observatory, the objective is to scan the sky to create an ultra-wide, ultra high definition and time-lapse record of the universe to produce the largest amassed optical astronomy dataset that will be called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Weighing around 3,000 kg, the camera will gather the cosmic light reflected onto it by the observatory’s three mirrors measuring 8.4-meter, 5 meter and 3.4 meter.

ALSO SEE: World’s Largest Digital Camera Will Unveil The Universe In Ultra HD; Check Out Its Mind-Blowing Features

Introducing…your sneak peek at the cosmos captured by @NSF–@doescience Vera C. Rubin Observatory!

Can you guess what regions of sky they are?

This is just a peek…join us at 11am US EDT for your full First Look at how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos!https://t.co/1a74X2edp8 pic.twitter.com/DE3tx2RQI4 — NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory (@VRubinObs) June 23, 2025

Interestingly, the Observatory has released a preview of what we should expect from the world’s biggest and most powerful digital camera. According to NSF, the camera will be used to build the “greatest time-lapse movie of the cosmos ever.”

The preview pictures feature a vast area of the sky with hundreds of thousands if not millions of visible spiral galaxies and star clusters. One of the images seems to present a zoomed-in view of a specific part of a nebula, although no details have been provided yet.

ALSO SEE: Scientist Reveals World’s Largest Digital Camera That Has Pixels Comparable To 266 iPhones!

(Image: Rubin Observatory)

The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile published their first images on Monday, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies.

More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos.

One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops.

The image reveals these stellar nurseries within our Milky Way in unprecedented detail, with previously faint or invisible features now clearly visible.

Another image offers a sweeping view of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.

The team also released a video dubbed the “cosmic treasure chest,” which begins with a close-up of two galaxies before zooming out to reveal approximately 10 million more.

“The Rubin Observatory is an investment in our future, which will lay down a cornerstone of knowledge today on which our children will proudly build tomorrow,” said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Equipped with an advanced 8.4-meter telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, the Rubin Observatory is supported by a powerful data-processing system.

Later this year, it will begin its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Over the next decade, it will scan the night sky nightly, capturing even the subtlest visible changes with unmatched precision.

The observatory is named after pioneering American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, whose research provided the first conclusive evidence for the existence of dark matter — a mysterious substance that does not emit light but exerts gravitational influence on galaxies.

Dark energy refers to the equally mysterious and immensely powerful force believed to be driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. Together, dark matter and dark energy are thought to make up 95 percent of the cosmos, yet their true nature remains unknown.

The observatory, a joint initiative of the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, has also been hailed as one of the most powerful tools ever built for tracking asteroids.

In just 10 hours of observations, the Rubin Observatory discovered 2,104 previously undetected asteroids in our solar system, including seven near-Earth objects — all of which pose no threat.

For comparison, all other ground- and space-based observatories combined discover about 20,000 new asteroids per year.

Rubin is also set to be the most effective observatory at spotting interstellar objects passing through the solar system.

More images from the observatory are expected to be released later Monday morning.

In just a small section of the Rubin Observatory’s total view of the Virgo Cluster, bright stars shine in the foreground in front of many distant galaxies (Credit: AFP)

The first major unveiling of images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is just about to drop, and we have a little taste of the wonders to come.

Teaser images released ahead of the main event give us our first glimpses of what the powerful observatory has managed to capture in just 10 hours of observations – millions of galaxies and a plethora of asteroids, datasets that are just the first foray into a new era of astronomy.

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The observatory telescope is embarking on a 10-year survey of the southern sky called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) in near-ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths, capturing the entire sky every few days to effectively compile a huge timelapse of the Universe.

Related: A Game-Changing Telescope Is About to Drop First Pics. Here’s How to Watch.

Each section of the sky will be recorded around 800 times using the telescope’s 3,200-megapixel camera – the largest camera ever built.

The first image shows the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas in the Milky Way galaxy, two clouds in which baby stars are being born, a few thousand light-years from the Solar System. Such nebulas are not only incredibly pretty, they’re important repositories of information about how stars form and grow. Rubin’s image is a composite of 678 individual observations, taken over the course of seven hours.

The rest of the images will drop on 23 June 2025, at 15:00 UTC (11:00 EDT), when the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy will host a full reveal event. If you want to get in on the hype, live watch parties will be taking place all over the world, and the entire event will be livestreamed on YouTube – you can tune in below.

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“NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory will capture more information about our Universe than all optical telescopes throughout history combined,” says Brian Stone, acting director of the NSF. “Through this remarkable scientific facility, we will explore many cosmic mysteries, including the dark matter and dark energy that permeate the Universe.”

First celestial image unveiled from revolutionary telescope

4 hours ago Share Save Ione Wells South America correspondent Georgina Rannard Science correspondent Share Save

NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory The first image revealed by the Vera Rubin telescope shows the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae in stunning detail

A powerful new telescope in Chile has released its first images, showing off its unprecedented ability to peer into the dark depths of the universe. In one picture, vast colourful gas and dust clouds swirl in a star-forming region 9,000 light years from Earth. The Vera C Rubin observatory, home to the world’s most powerful digital camera, promises to transform our understanding of the universe. If a ninth planet exists in our solar system, scientists say this telescope would find it in its first year.

RubinObs Rubin Observatory and the Rubin Auxiliary Telescope in Cerro Pachón in Chile

It should detect killer asteroids in striking distance of Earth and map the Milky Way. It will also answer crucial questions about dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up most of our universe. This once-in-a-generation moment for astronomy is the start of a continuous 10-year filming of the southern night sky. “I personally have been working towards this point for about 25 years. For decades we wanted to build this phenomenal facility and to do this type of survey,” says Professor Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland. The UK is a key partner in the survey and will host data centres to process the extremely detailed snapshots as the telescope sweeps the skies capturing everything in its path. Vera Rubin could increase the number of known objects in our solar system tenfold.

NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory A huge cluster of galaxies including spiral galaxies in the vast Virgo cluster, which is about 100 billion times the size of the Milky Way.

BBC News visited the Vera Rubin observatory before the release of the images. It sits on Cerro Pachón, a mountain in the Chilean Andes that hosts several observatories on private land dedicated to space research. Very high, very dry, and very dark. It is a perfect location to watch the stars. Maintaining this darkness is sacrosanct. The bus ride up and down the windy road at night must be done cautiously, because full-beam headlights must not be used. The inside of the observatory is no different. There is a whole engineering unit dedicated to making sure the dome surrounding the telescope, which opens to the night sky, is dark – turning off rogue LEDs or other stray lights that could interfere with the astronomical light they are capturing from the night sky. The starlight is “enough” to navigate, commissioning scientist Elana Urbach explains. One of the observatory’s big goals, she adds, is to “understand the history of the Universe” which means being able to see faint galaxies or supernova explosions that happened “billions of years ago”. “So, we really need very sharp images,” Elana says. Each detail of the observatory’s design exhibits similar precision.

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Vera Rubin’s is 3,200-megapixel camera was built by the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

It achieves this through its unique three-mirror design. Light enters the telescope from the night sky, hits the primary mirror (8.4m diameter), is reflected onto the secondary mirror (3.4m) back onto a third mirror (4.8m) before entering its camera. The mirrors must be kept in impeccable condition. Even a speck of dust could alter the image quality. The high reflectivity and speed of this allow the telescope to capture a lot of light which Guillem Megias, an active optics expert at the observatory, says is “really important” to observe things from “really far away which, in astronomy, means they come from earlier times”. The camera inside the telescope will repeatedly capture the night sky for ten years, every three days, for a Legacy Survey of Space and Time. At 1.65m x 3m, it weighs 2,800kg and provides a wide field of view. It will capture an image roughly every 40 seconds, for about 8-12 hours a night thanks to rapid repositioning of the moving dome and telescope mount. It has 3,200 megapixels (67 times more than an iPhone 16 Pro camera), making it so high-resolution that it could capture a golf ball on the Moon and would require 400 Ultra HD TV screens to show a single image. “When we got the first photo up here, it was a special moment,” Mr Megias said. “When I first started working with this project, I met someone who had been working on it since 1996. I was born in 1997. It makes you realise this is an endeavour of a generation of astronomers.”

It will be down to hundreds of scientists around the world to analyse the stream of data alerts, which will peak at around 10 million a night. The survey will work on four areas: mapping changes in the skies or transient objects, the formation of the Milky Way, mapping the Solar System, and understanding dark matter or how the universe formed. But its biggest power lies in its constancy. It will survey the same areas over and over again, and every time it detects a change, it will alert scientists.

RubinObs The Telescope Mount Assembly supports the camera and huge mirrors

“This transient side is the really new unique thing… That has the potential to show us something that we hadn’t even thought about before,” explains Prof Heymens. But it could also help protect us by detecting dangerous objects that suddenly stray near Earth, including asteroids like YR4 that scientists briefly worried early this year was on track to smash into our planet. The camera’s very large mirrors will help scientists detect the faintest of light and distortions emitted from these objects and track them as they speed through space. “It’s transformative. It’s going be the largest data set we’ve ever had to look at our galaxy with. It will fuel what we do for many, many years,” says Professor Alis Deason at Durham university. She will receive the images to analyse how far back the stars reach in the Milky Way. At the moment most data from the stars goes back about 163,000 light years, but Vera Rubin could see back to 1.2 million light-years. Prof Deason also expects to see into the Milky Way’s stellar halo, or its graveyard of stars destroyed over time, as well as small satellite galaxies that are still surviving but are incredibly faint and hard to find. Tantalisingly, Vera Rubin is thought to be powerful enough to finally solve a long-standing mystery about the existence of our solar system’s Planet Nine. That object could be as far away as 700 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun, far beyond the reach of other ground telescopes. “It’s gonna take us a long time to really understand how this new beautiful observatory works. But I am so ready for it,” says Professor Heymans.