The new $473 million Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile — home to a 3,200 megapixel camera, the world’s largest camera — has officially begun one of the most ambitious astronomy projects ever attempted: a 10-year time-lapse view of the southern sky comprising two million images and 30 trillion measurements of the properties of billions of galaxies, stars and asteroids. It had its “ first light ” in June 2025.

Its Legacy Survey of Space and Time project will repeatedly scan the southern hemisphere’s night sky from Chile, returning to the same regions every few nights to reveal objects and events too faint, fast, rare or slow-moving to be seen by most telescopes — including interstellar objects like 3I/ATLAS . Rubin is expected to capture more images of the universe in its first year of operation than all previous optical observatories combined.

“Today, we begin filming the greatest cosmic movie ever made,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF Director. “Every night, NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory will expand the frontiers of knowledge and strengthen America’s global leadership in science and innovation.”

World’s Largest Digital Camera Starts Work

At the heart of Rubin Observatory is the Simonyi Survey Telescope, which has an 8.4-meter (27.6-foot) primary mirror with a field of view about as wide as seven full moons. Attached to it is a giant camera capable of capturing a new, detailed image roughly every 40 seconds, combining speed, sensitivity and an exceptionally wide field of view unmatched by any other ground- or space-based telescope. Instead of focusing narrowly on one object at a time, the observatory will sweep across huge areas of sky, building an archive of stars, galaxies, asteroids and cosmic explosions.

Over the next decade, each point in the survey area is expected to be observed about 800 times. This repeated coverage will help astronomers track motion, changes in brightness and sudden events across billions of objects.

“Rubin Observatory will capture the dynamic nature of our cosmos and reveal unimagined insights into our universe’s biggest mysteries, from our own Solar System to the very structure of the universe,” said Darío Gil, Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy. “By seeking to understand the enigmatic phenomena of dark energy and dark matter, we are not just observing the stars; we are striving to grasp the fundamental laws that govern our existence.”

How Rubin Will Transform Astronomy

Rubin Observatory is expected to collect around 10 terabytes of data each night and generate millions of alerts when changes are detected in the sky. Those alerts will be sent to automated systems that help classify discoveries and quickly notify scientists. On its first night, during testing of its notification system, researchers received more than 800,000 alerts from its alert broker system, a series of hubs engineered to share data with researchers and the public. Each alert signified a change in the night sky. That’s consistent with previous testing .

The survey is designed to support research into some of astronomy’s biggest questions, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the evolution of galaxies and the accelerating expansion of the universe. It will also help scientists study transient events such as supernovae, feeding black holes and possible signals linked to gravitational-wave detections.

An Asteroid-Finding Machine?

Rubin will not only look deep into the distant universe. It is also expected to become one of the most powerful tools ever built for mapping the solar system.

By taking around a thousand images each night, Rubin will help identify millions of asteroids and comets, including near-Earth objects and distant bodies beyond Neptune. Early optimization surveys have already revealed around 11,000 previously unseen asteroids, showing the observatory’s potential before the full decade-long survey had even begun. The haul included hundreds of distant worlds beyond the eighth planet, Neptune and 33 previously unknown near-Earth asteroids.

Rubin’s total included 73 asteroids detected during early test observations in late 2024 using Rubin’s commissioning camera. A further 1,514 were uncovered during the jaw-dropping “first look” phase in April and May 2025. The largest portion — more than 11,000 asteroids — was discovered during early optimization surveys conducted in mid-2025.

Two Decades In The Planning

“It is amazing and humbling to be here at this time and place as we start the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, after more than two decades of incredible work by our dedicated team,” said Bob Blum, Director of Rubin Observatory at NSF NOIRLab. “Rubin Observatory is for everyone; the LSST will change how we do astronomy and astrophysics, allowing researchers anywhere to participate in cutting-edge science.”

Rubin sits atop Cerro Pachón in Chile at 8,530 feet (2,600 meters) above sea level and is a joint initiative of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.