data Archives

August 29, 2024August 29, 2024 by Evan Gough

The Rubin Observatory Will Unleash a Flood of NEO Detections

The Vera Rubin Observatory is poised to begin observations next year. It could detect 130 Near Earth Objects each night. Image Credit: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA/B. Quint

After about 10 years of construction, the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) is scheduled to see its first light in January 2025. Once it’s up and running, it will begin its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a decade-long effort to photograph the entire visible sky every few nights. It’ll study dark energy and dark matter, map the Milky Way, and detect transient astronomical events and small Solar System objects like Near Earth Objects (NEOs).

New research shows the LSST will detect about 130 NEOs per night in the first year of observations.

January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Evan Gough

Vera Rubin Will Help Us Find the Weird and Wonderful Things Happening in the Solar System

The Vera Rubin Observatory at twilight on April 2021. It's been a long wait, but the observatory should see first light later this year. Image Credit: Rubin Obs/NSF/AURA

The Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) is something special among telescopes. It’s not built for better angular resolution and increased resolving power like the European Extremely Large Telescope or the Giant Magellan Telescope. It’s built around a massive digital camera and will repeatedly capture broad, deep views of the entire sky rather than focus on any individual objects.

By repeatedly surveying the sky, the VRO will spot any changes or astronomical transients. Astronomers call this type of observation Time Domain Astronomy.

November 24, 2023November 24, 2023 by Evan Gough

Vera Rubin Will Find Binary Supermassive Black Holes. Here’s How.

A simulation of two merging black holes. Credit: Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Project

When galaxies merge, we expect them to produce binary black holes (BBHs.) BBHs orbit one another closely, and when they merge, they produce gravitational waves that have been detected by LIGO-Virgo. The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory should be able to find them before they merge, which would open a whole new window into the study of galaxy mergers, supermassive black holes, binary black holes, and gravitational waves.

November 17, 2023November 17, 2023 by Evan Gough

We’re Entering a New Age When Spacecraft Communicate With Lasers

This artist's illustration shows NASA's Psyche spacecraft approaching the asteroid of the same name. Image Credit: Maxar/ASU/P. Rubin/NASA/JPL-Caltech

In October 2023, NASA launched its long-awaited on-again, off-again Psyche mission. The spacecraft is on its way to study the metal-rich asteroid 16-Psyche, an M-type asteroid that could be the remnant core of a planetesimal that suffered a collision long ago. But understanding the giant, metal-rich asteroid isn’t the Psyche mission’s only goal.

It’s also testing a new laser communication technology.