‘The greatest cosmic movie ever made’: Historic telescope kicks off an unprecedented survey

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is located in the Coquimbo region of northern Chile. Hernan Stockebrand/NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA via CNN Newsource

Every 40 seconds of nighttime for the next 10 years, a camera the size of a small car will capture strikingly detailed images of the southern sky, stitching together a time-lapse panorama of intergalactic evolution that could help unlock some of the universe’s lingering mysteries.

The historic effort, called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), began on Tuesday, according to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the state-of-the-art facility in Chile that houses the world’s largest digital camera weighing 6,600 pounds.

During its decade-long study, a series of coloured filters will give the camera superhuman vision as it scans the sky each night and creates a living image of how celestial objects — from asteroids to supernovae — morph and move.

The “colour-rich” images of exploding stars, black holes and cosmic collisions will also help direct the attention of other observatories around the world, according to a news release, allowing various institutions to work in tandem to collect wholistic observations of notable celestial events.

The project has several goals, including creating a new inventory of our solar system and the Milky Way, as well as chipping away at the mystery of dark matter by observing the distorted light of distant galaxies.

“Today, we begin filming the greatest cosmic movie ever made,” said Brian Stone, who is currently performing the duties of the vacant US National Science Foundation director role, in a Tuesday statement. “This moment reflects decades of vision, innovation and the power of federal investment.”

Bringing the universe to life

Jointly funded by the US National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, the US$800 million Rubin Observatory sits perched on the 8,800-foot-high (2,682-metre-high) summit of the Cerro Pachón mountain in northern Chile. The site’s dark skies and dry air make it one of the world’s most optimal spots for stargazing.

After the observatory captured its first images last year, the LSST was anticipated to begin by early 2026. But checkouts took longer than expected.

“The decision to officially begin the LSST was made after a period of system optimization and a careful operational review of technical readiness, data system performance and scientific validation,” said Željko Ivezić, head of LSST, in a statement. “Important factors that played a role in this decision included image quality, effective survey speed, system uptime and reliability, and calibration accuracy.”

Each night, the observatory’s camera will capture thousands of images, completing a full scan of the southern sky every few days. Throughout its decade-long survey, the telescope will be able to return to the same spot in the night sky hundreds of times, creating a living image of how each patch of observable star systems and galaxies evolves. The long-term effort will allow scientists to study rare and difficult-to-detect events like never before.

“Rubin is bringing the universe to life, illuminating a treasure trove of discoveries: pulsating stars, supernova explosions, the fossil record of galaxies, clues to the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, and entirely new phenomena never seen before,” the observatory team shared in a news release.

Through images taken to help optimize the new system, the observatory has already detected 11,000 new asteroids and logged dozens of other new objects in our solar system.

As the observatory’s timelapse unfolds, researchers will use AI and machine learning to filter the data and detect notable changes across time. Scientists expect the system will dispatch about 7 million alerts to flag interesting movements, explosions or notable phenomena every night.

“When the LSST is complete, the final dataset will contain billions of objects with trillions of measurements, all accessible through regular data releases,” according to the observatory’s news release. “This is the first time so much astronomical data will be available to so many people, opening the door to new kinds of discoveries by both scientists and the public.”

Jackie Wattles, CNN