Rubin Observatory begins filming the 'greatest cosmic movie ever' beginning a new era of astronomy

The universe is ready for its close-up! That's because today marks the day that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins it's 10-year mission to shoot the greatest cosmic move ever created. The decade-long project officially known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is set to revolutionize our view of the universe. That means June 30, 2026 marks the beginning of a new era for astronomy. "Today, we begin filming the greatest cosmic movie ever made," U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) director Brian Stone said in a statement. "Every night, NSF–Department of Energy (DOE) Rubin Observatory will expand the frontiers of knowledge and strengthen America's global leadership in science and innovation." The LSST will see Rubin use its 3200-megapixel camera, the largest digital camera ever created, to repeatedly scan the entire sky over the southern hemisphere every few nights. Over the next decade, each point in the sky will be covered 800 times; this will result in an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the cosmos, the scale of which will put any Sci-Fi epic to shame. And that includes the daring voyage of discovery present in any great Sci-Fi story. Astronomers teaming with Rubin will dive headfirst into the dark universe. That means the dual mysteries of dark energy — the force driving the accelerating expansion of the universe — and dark matter — which secretly seems to be holding galaxies together. …