Sharing the cosmic excitement
Rubin’s first look at the great universe
Rubin Observatory beneath star trails. Photo: Hernan Stockebrand
Simultaneous watch parties are being held all over the world as students and academics want to share the excitement over the Observatory’s findings. The event will include speeches from Elisa Chisari, programme manager for the Dutch contribution to the Rubin Observatory and UU researcher, and science historian David Baneke.
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located in Chile will be using the largest digital camera in the world to record the sky for the next ten years. June 23 marks the first images that this new telescope will reveal.
The Observatory will produce a video which shows the cosmos in ultra high quality in order to produce a time-lapse of the universe. Theoretical physicist Chisari says: “The video will reveal both known and unknown transient events. Amongst the known events key examples are supernovae, stellar explosions, which help us understand the composition and evolution of our Universe.”
The video could lead to unexpected discoveries. Chisari explains: “But we are also excited to find all kinds of unknown events and objects, which will improve our understanding of how stars evolve and interact.”
As part of the Dutch contribution to the Rubin Observatory, researchers from three Dutch universities provide their expertise. Chisari explains: “We have contributed a cloud monitoring camera (DREAM) which allows the observatory to better function during partly clouded nights. We also contribute modeling or data processing software which helps enable several of the science cases of Rubin.”
The findings are expected to contribute to Chisari’s own research with dark energy as well since the video will document many galaxies in high quality. Regarding how the Observatory’s findings will improve her own research she says: “Galaxy shapes are a fantastic way to pin down the origin of the accelerated expansion of the Universe.”
The watch party will take place on June 23rd in Sonnenborgh Observatory at 16:30. It is free and registration is through the UU website.