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The largest digital camera ever built begins decade-long survey of the universe
Chron • • science
Key Points:
- The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, equipped with the largest digital camera ever built, has begun a 10-year cosmic survey from a Chilean mountaintop, capturing hundreds of images of the southern sky each night.
- The observatory aims to map billions of stars in the Milky Way and billions of galaxies beyond, providing deeper and more detailed images that will reveal fainter celestial objects previously undetectable.
- Scientists anticipate that the extensive data set will enable unprecedented studies of galaxy formation, clustering over billions of years, and insights into the origins of the universe.
- Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, the observatory honors astronomer Vera Rubin, whose work suggested the existence of dark matter; researchers hope the survey will shed light on dark matter and dark energy.
