June 23, 2025
UW helps bring the cosmos into focus as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory unveils a new glimpse into the solar system
One of the first images taken by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. UW faculty, students and staff played a critical role in bringing Rubin online.NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
A new era of astronomy and astrophysics began Monday when the first images captured by the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory were released, demonstrating the extraordinary capabilities of the new telescope and the world’s largest digital camera.
Officials in Washington, D.C., unveiled large, ultra-high-definition images and videos, as well as discoveries of thousands of new asteroids. Astronomers and researchers around the world watched along at viewing parties, including at the University of Washington’s Planetarium.
An image from the Rubin Observatory that reveals the clouds of gas and dust that comprise the Trifid nebula (top) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light-years away from Earth.NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The images offer a preview of the most comprehensive census of the solar system scientists have ever conducted, and a peek into the exponential increase in discoveries and understanding of the cosmos this new telescope will make possible.
The UW was one of the founding members of Rubin’s ambitious undertaking and will play a key role in making sense of the discoveries. UW scientists and engineers were critical in advocating for the project, designing the observatory and developing the software that will analyze the petabytes of data from Rubin’s telescope, including the asteroid discovery algorithms.
For journalists:
B-roll and soundbites from Monday’s UW watch party. Download additional images from the Rubin Observatory.
“University of Washington faculty recognized early on that dreaming big about Rubin’s capabilities and leading the scientific charge would shape our knowledge of the solar system and propel innovation in data science not only in astrophysics but also across disciplines,” said UW Provost Tricia R. Serio. “We often talk about the impact the UW is making here and around the world. This project will take us far into space and give us information about the very origins of the universe and set the stage for future discoveries we can’t even imagine today.”
From its peak in the Chilean Andes, Rubin’s Simonyi Survey Telescope will scan the sky with its 8.4-meter mirror and enormous 3,200-megapixel camera, the largest digital camera in the world. The telescope’s sight path, the pace and frequency of observations and the vast field of vision required a new type of discovery algorithm to reliably make sense of the troves of data collected. Scientists and researchers at the UW worked across disciplines to evolve data science and computer science to meet Rubin’s demands.
In 2017, the UW — with founding support from the Charles and Lisa Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences — established the Institute for Data Intensive Research for Astrophysics & Cosmology, or DiRAC. The Institute, part of the College of Arts & Sciences, aims to be an interdisciplinary hub to address fundamental questions about the origins and evolution of the universe. Leaders recognized that the future of astrophysics relied on using software as the chief instrument for this exploration. Combined with the UW’s astronomy program and the deep connections to the Pacific Northwest’s tech community, DiRAC has developed a global reputation for working toward new discoveries.
UW hosts event to learn more:
UW’s DiRAC Institute is hosting a slideshow and discussion 7 p.m., June 26, Kane Hall
As the Rubin sets out on a 10-year mission to conduct the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), software created at the UW will be pivotal as scientists advance understanding of the cosmos and the origins of the solar system. UW’s faculty, students and staff have played key roles in the construction of this new facility They’ve also been pivotal in developing the algorithms that keep the telescope image sharp and creating the codes for mapping the solar system and discovering the most energetic and rarest phenomena in what astrophysicists call the “time-variable universe.” UW’s Zeljko Ivezic, a professor of astronomy, is the director of the federally-funded Rubin Construction Project.
Unlike other telescopes — which tend to focus and “zoom in” on a few objects of interest — Rubin is alone in the capability to quickly and repeatedly map the entire visible sky.
“Rubin has the unprecedented capacity to capture the cosmos,” said Andrew Connolly, a professor of astronomy and director of UW’s eScience Institute. He’s also the co-principal investigator of the Schmidt Sciences supported LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing (LINCC) Frameworks program to develop state-of-the-art analysis techniques capable of meeting Rubin’s scale and complexity.
“Rubin will deliver the largest map the universe ever made: tens of billions of galaxies, billions of stars and millions of new small bodies in our own solar system. It’s a data analysis endeavor of epic proportions,” Connolly said.
For each object Rubin observes, there will be much more than a static image, the technology will produce a thousand-frame movie: trillions of measurements of billions of objects, said Eric Bellm, a research associate professor and the science lead of Rubin’s time-domain software team.
“With these data, scientists will better understand the universe, chronicle its evolution, and delve into science ranging from dangerous asteroids to the mysteries of dark energy,” Bellm said.
For example, the UW’s team helped create simulation software to predict Rubin’s discoveries. The research found that the telescope will map more than 5 million main-belt asteroids, 127,000 near-Earth objects, 109,000 Trojan asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit, 37,000 trans-Neptunian objects and about 2,000 Centaurs, or orbit-crossing objects.
These objects, revealed in color and in more detail than was previously possible, help tell the story of the solar system’s origins, said Mario Juric, a professor of astronomy and the principal investigator of UW’s Rubin team.
Juric said that Rubin will help answer some fundamental questions: How did the planets form? Is there an unknown planet hiding in the outskirts of our solar system? Did comets bring water to the Earth? Or asteroids? And are there any that could still collide with us today?
“The first look we share today is a glimpse into the transformational capacity Rubin will bring to answer questions like these,” Juric said.
The work to support the Rubin Observatory hasn’t been limited to UW faculty. Numerous UW undergraduate and doctoral students have played contributing roles, authoring important journal articles, developing simulation software and writing complex computer codes.
Exposure to the LSST has helped prepare students to succeed post graduation, whether applying for work in industry or moving onto advanced academic degrees.
“Developing cloud-based analytics platforms, or building pipelines to process large amounts of imaging data, are skills that allow one to do not just cutting-edge astronomy but also any other data-intensive problem,” said Steven Stetzler, who recently completed doctoral work at UW and now holds a postdoctoral appointment at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
For more information, contact Juric at mjuric@uw.edu or James Davenport at jrad@uw.edu.
Tag(s): Andrew Connolly • College of Arts & Sciences • Department of Astronomy • DIRAC Institute • Eric Bellm • eScience Institute • Mario Juric • Stetzler.Steven • Tricia Serio • Zeljko Ivezic