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Vera C. Rubin Observatory will start scanning the night sky in 2024

A massive telescope in Chile is set to begin operations in 2024, and once it is up and running the pictures will be extraordinary

By Alex Wilkins

27 December 2023

Wide view of the telescope mount inside the dome

A wide-angle view of the Simonyi Survey Telescope in Chile

H. Stockebrand/RubinObs/NSF​/AURA

THE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is about to begin its mission to scan the entire southern sky every three nights for nearly a decade. These images will form the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, transforming our view of any object that twinkles or changes in the night sky.

Read more

The time-lapse telescope that will transform our view of the universe

“I think people will be amazed at just the sheer number of stars and galaxies that are in these images,” says …

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