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Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

rubinobservatory.org

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Re: Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

#21

Post by TheBlight »

cogman10 wrote: post #18
dekhn wrote: post #8

I really like the Rubin because I think a lot of people focus too much on "deep" seeing (IE, looking at individual or several objects with very high magnification only once). The Rubin does much more "wide" seeing and this actually produces a ton of useful data- basically, enough data to collect reliable statistics about things. This helps refine cosmological models in ways that smaller individual observations cannot…

Deep is still interesting in understanding the origins of the universe. Rubin seems highly practical on the flip side. It'll be a super helpful tool in predicting asteroid impacts.

Or detecting more unusual interstellar objects like 'Oumuamua.

Re: Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

#22

Post by WD-42 »

cogman10 wrote: post #18
dekhn wrote: post #8

I really like the Rubin because I think a lot of people focus too much on "deep" seeing (IE, looking at individual or several objects with very high magnification only once). The Rubin does much more "wide" seeing and this actually produces a ton of useful data- basically, enough data to collect reliable statistics about things. This helps refine cosmological models in ways that smaller individual observations cannot…

Deep is still interesting in understanding the origins of the universe. Rubin seems highly practical on the flip side. It'll be a super helpful tool in predicting asteroid impacts.

Also microlensing events, supernovae, and many other things in our very dynamic universe.

Re: Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

#23

Post by perihelions »

japhyr wrote: post #15
-warren wrote: post #13

Counter-rotating spiral galaxies. Super neat! https://skyviewer.app/embed?target=186.66721+8.89072&fov=0.2...

That is interesting! They look like they're roughly in the same plane. Is it safe to assume they're roughly in the same plane, or could they be really distant along the line of sight? The similarity in size makes me think they are, but I don't have any reason to be confident in that judgment.

Those are NGC 4411 a+b and they're indeed right next to each other,

https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2421b/ ("thought to be right next to each other — both at a distance of about 50 million light-years")

Re: Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

#25

Post by perihelions »

-warren wrote: post #13

Counter-rotating spiral galaxies. Super neat! https://skyviewer.app/embed?target=186.66721+8.89072&fov=0.2...

> "?target=186.66721+8.89072"

(For those who haven't noticed, you can just simply paste 186.66721+8.89072 or whichever target you're curious about in an astronomy database like Aladin[0], and there right-click on "What is this?")

[0] https://aladin.cds.unistra.fr/AladinLite/?target=12%2026%204...

Re: Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

#28

Post by stronglikedan »

cogman10 wrote: post #16
krunck wrote: post #9

The asteroid detection capability is amazing: https://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look/swarm-ast...

This is really going to revolutionize our ability to detect and predict asteroid impact.

And just in the nick of time!

Re: Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

#29

Post by WD-42 »

The amount of data this thing will be putting out every night is insane. For years now the community has been building the infrastructure to be able to efficiently consume it for useful science, but we still have work to do. Anyone interested in the problem of pipelining and distributing 10s of TB of data a night should check out the LSST and related GitHubs.

Re: Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

#30

Post by stronglikedan »

jstummbillig wrote: post #27
krunck wrote: post #9

The asteroid detection capability is amazing: https://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look/swarm-ast...

That is likely the most unexcitedly unsettling video I have ever seen. Amazing storytelling really.

I was just coming back to comment on the existential dread elicited by that video.
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