The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located in Chile's Andes Mountains, was partially constructed in March 2020 when construction was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By October 2020, with safety measures in place, the project resumed. Recently, the observatory achieved a major milestone when a 28-ton, 10-meter-wide piece of the telescope was successfully installed. This was one of the final heavy components to be added to the telescope, which is expected to be completed and ready for regular observations in 2022.
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope and the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope have been renamed Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, respectively. These observatories are expected to be two of the most influential survey tools of the decade, used to study dark matter, dark energy, exoplanets, asteroids, and the universe's evolution.
Renaming these observatories also reflects a shift in recognition of female pioneers in astronomy, with important observatories named after them. The Rubin Observatory, located in Cerro Pachón in Chile, is equipped with a large digital camera comprising 189 ultra-precise CCD detectors, grouped in nine clusters and totaling 16 megapixels each. The camera has three lenses, the largest of which is 5 feet in diameter, and six filters that capture the full visible spectrum and some ultraviolet and infrared light.
Promising Space Image
The telescope's mirror is also innovative, featuring a tertiary mirror embedded within the primary mirror and cast as a single piece to optimize stability and reduce weight. This allows the telescope to quickly move to new positions in the sky and survey the entire southern hemisphere down to 24th magnitude every three days. The observatory generates 20 terabytes of data per night and sends out 10 million alerts for any changes detected in the sky, mainly asteroids, which are processed and broadcast globally within 60 seconds.
The Rubin Observatory's 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time, also known as LSST, will catalog around 20 billion galaxies, a similar number of stars, millions of new supernovae, and about 6 million asteroids. During this survey, the observatory will observe every part of the southern sky more than 800 times and generate hundreds of thousands of terabytes of data. One of the potential uses of this data is to study dark matter through gravitational lensing.
Based on Einstein's theory of general relativity, massive objects can bend and amplify light as it passes nearby, acting as a lens. By observing how galaxy clusters affect the light from objects located behind them, such as galaxies and quasars, astronomers can calculate the cluster's total mass. Comparing this to the mass of the visible matter in the cluster allows scientists to determine the amount of unseen dark matter present within it.
Vera Rubin's Work Legacy
One of the major questions that the LSST aims to address is the nature of dark matter. Dark matter is a mysterious substance believed to exist in space, even though it does not emit or reflect light. It was initially thought to be composed of dark planets or black holes, but more recent measurements suggest that it may consist of tiny particles that do not interact with the instruments we have developed to detect them.
The LSST will not directly detect these particles, but by studying the size, shape, and structure of the universe, which is largely made up of dark matter, it may provide clues about the nature of this mysterious substance and help guide the development of future detectors. Before Vera Rubin's work, the concept of dark matter had been proposed but was not widely accepted. Through her extensive research, Rubin provided strong evidence for the existence of dark matter, which is now considered a fundamental aspect of our understanding of the universe.
The observatory searching for a deeper understanding of dark matter should be named after Rubin, who significantly contributed to our knowledge of this mysterious substance. In addition to her scientific achievements, Rubin worked to create a more inclusive community in astronomy, particularly for women and other underrepresented groups. When applying to graduate school, Rubin faced barriers due to her gender and race, but her efforts have helped create a more welcoming environment for future generations of astronomers.
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