Rubin Teleskobu, Tarihin En Büyük Kozmik Zaman Atlamalı Görüntüsüne Başladı

Vera C. Rubin Gözlemevi in Şili has launched a massive survey that will scan the changing face of the night sky for 10 years. This project aims to create the most comprehensive time-lapse map of the sky in the history of astronomy. With its 8.4-meter mirror and 3,200-megapixel camera, the observatory will scan the entire sky every night, recording billions of stars and galaxies. Thanks to this, transient events such as supernova explosions, asteroids, and variable stars can be tracked instantly. Scientists state that this data will provide groundbreaking information about the expansion of the universe, dark matter, and dark energy.

Rubin Gözlemevi's project called Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will generate about 20 terabytes of data every night for 10 years. This massive data flow will be processed using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to send real-time alerts to astronomers. In particular, the detection of near-Earth asteroids is of critical importance for planetary defense. The observatory aims to discover more than 5 million asteroids in Güneş Sistemi and around 40,000 Kuiper Kuşağı objects. Additionally, by recording the brightness changes of 20 billion stars in Samanyolu Galaksisi, it will provide new information about stellar evolution.

The project is the largest scientific endeavor of Rubin Gözlemevi, whose construction began in 2015 and which received its first light in 2024. The observatory takes its name from the American astronomer Vera Rubin, who pioneered dark matter research. LSST uses the Simonyi Survey Telescope, which has an 8.4-meter primary mirror. With its 3.2-gigapixel camera, this telescope takes 15-second exposures every 15 seconds, imaging a 9.6-square-degree area of the sky. By taking about 1000 images every night, the entire sky is scanned once every three days.

Scientific goals include understanding the nature of dark energy, mapping the distribution of dark matter, and testing galaxy formation models. LSST will catalog 37 billion stars and galaxies over 10 years, producing the most detailed three-dimensional map of the universe. Additionally, up to 10 million transient events (supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, etc.) will be detected each night and immediately reported to other telescopes. This will allow the most energetic events in the universe to be followed instantly.

Rubin Gözlemevi's data will be made available to scientists worldwide with open access. The project will provide a wealth of data expected to revolutionize the field of astronomy. The amount of data collected over LSST's 10-year period will be greater than the data collected by all telescopes so far. This big data promises not only new discoveries but also finding answers to fundamental questions about the workings of the universe. The observatory will begin full scientific operations in 2025 and will observe continuously until 2035.