This new telescope shows 'an unearthly universe'
A new space research center called the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has been built in Chile, where scientists have installed the world's most powerful digital camera.
Desk Report - 30 June 2025
Publish: David Lee
A brand new telescope has taken the first ever picture of the universe. The images it takes show that it can see the deepest and darkest parts of the universe with such clarity that it has never been seen before. And the first batch of images have been dubbed ‘unearthly’.
A picture taken by the new telescope shows a vast cloud of colorful gas and dust swirling in a star-forming region about 9,000 light-years from Earth.
A new space research center called the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has been built in Chile, where scientists have installed the world’s most powerful digital camera. The telescope’s camera will see things with its eyes that could completely change our understanding of the universe, the BBC reported.
If there is a ninth planet or a new planet in our solar system, scientists say that this telescope is so powerful that it will be able to find it in the first year.
Scientists say that the telescope will also detect dangerous asteroids that are at a distance that could hit or hit the Earth. It will also be able to create a map of the Milky Way galaxy. In addition, this telescope will help find answers to many important questions about the mysterious objects that exist throughout most of the universe, especially 'dark matter'.
It will continuously take pictures of the night sky in the southern hemisphere for the next 10 years, which is an extraordinary and rare opportunity for astronomy, the BBC reported.
British astronomer and Astronomer Royal of Scotland Catherine Heymans said, “I have been working for this moment for about 25 years. For decades, we have wanted to build a telescope of this caliber and conduct this kind of research.”
The BBC writes that the UK is a key partner in this research. The country will build a data center where the telescope will scan the sky and collect a huge number of detailed images. The data center will analyze and process them.
Researchers say that the Vera Rubin telescope could increase the number of objects discovered in the solar system by up to ten times.
It is located on the top of a mountain called Cerro Pachon in the Chilean Andes, where there are several other observatories on private land for space research. The place is very high, very dry and very dark, which is an ideal place for stargazing.
An entire engineering unit works inside the observatory to maintain the darkness of the dome surrounding the telescope. The dome is open to the night sky. This ensures that there are no unnecessary lamps or other lights that can block the light from distant stars in the night sky.
Scientist Elana Urbach works at the observatory. She says that there is enough starlight from the night sky here that they have no problem navigating in that light.
She also says that the observatory's main goal is to "understand the history of the universe." That means seeing galaxies or supernova explosions that happened "billions of years ago."
“So we need very clear and sharp images that can see even small objects well.”
The telescope has three mirrors, with the main mirror measuring 8.4 meters in diameter, the second mirror measuring 3.4 meters and the third mirror measuring 4.8 meters. Light from the night sky first hits the large mirror, then the medium mirror, then the small mirror and finally the camera. This way the light is very clear and sharp.
Researchers say it is very important to keep these mirrors in perfect condition, because even small dust particles can change the quality of the image. Due to the high reflective capacity and fast speed of the telescope’s mirror, it can hold more light.
The matter is “very important, because through it we can see objects that are incredibly far away.” This is very important to know in astronomy.
The camera inside the telescope will take pictures of the night sky once every three days for the next 10 years. This will be done for a large study called the 'Legacy Survey of Space and Time'.
The telescope is 1.65 meters long and 3 meters wide and weighs about 2,800 kg. Researchers have designed it to take pictures of a very large area or wide area.
It will continue to take pictures for about 8 to 12 hours every night, taking one picture about every 40 seconds. The dome and mount of the telescope can change their position very quickly. So the telescope will be able to continue taking pictures
Its resolution is 3,200 megapixels, about 67 times higher than the iPhone 16 Pro camera, which is so fine that it can take a picture of a golf ball on the moon. The quantity and quality of the images it takes are so good that it would take four hundred Ultra HD TV screens to view one image.
“The first image taken with the telescope was a special moment for us,” says Megias.
“When I first started working on this project, I met someone who had been working on this project since 1996. I was born in 1997, so that whole thing helps you understand that this is a generational effort of astronomers.”
The BBC writes that the work of analyzing this data will depend on hundreds of scientists around the world. Because this telescope is generating a stream of about 10 million data points every night.
This survey will work on four main topics, where scientists will try to identify changes or temporary objects in the sky, learn how the Milky Way galaxy was formed, create a map of the solar system and understand how dark matter and the universe were formed.
The telescope's greatest strength is that it works regularly and continuously. It will scan the same region of the universe over and over again and will send scientists an alert whenever it detects a change.
Professor Heymans says, "The most new and important aspect of this research is to find sudden or temporary changes in the sky. This aspect is so new and powerful that it can lead to discoveries that no one has ever imagined before."
It could also help protect the Earth from asteroid impacts, as it can detect dangerous objects or asteroids that suddenly approach the Earth. For example, earlier this year, scientists were worried for some time that an asteroid called ‘YR4’ could hit the Earth.
Professor Alice Dyson of ‘Durham University’ said, “The telescope will change everything. It is going to be the largest data set or repository of information about our galaxy. With this information, we will be able to continue to learn a lot of new knowledge and research for many years to come.”
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