Today began a new era in astronomy as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (NSF–DOE) released its first images. The above image combines 678 separate photographs taken by Rubin over just over seven hours of observations.
Combining multiple images in this way clearly reveals details that would otherwise be faint or invisible, such as the clouds of gas and dust forming the Trifid Nebula (upper right corner) and the Lagoon Nebula, which are located several thousand light-years from Earth. More images will be revealed during a public event later today.
The amount of data collected by the Rubin Observatory in just the first year will be greater than all data collected by all other optical observatories combined. This treasure trove of data will help scientists make countless discoveries about the universe and will serve as an unparalleled source of knowledge for scientific exploration for decades to come.