A new era of astronomy and astrophysics began Monday when the first images captured by the NSF鈥揇OE were released, demonstrating the extraordinary capabilities of the new telescope and the world鈥檚 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 91爆料鈥檚 Planetarium.

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 91爆料 was one of the founding members of Rubin鈥檚 ambitious undertaking and will play a key role in making sense of the discoveries. 91爆料 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鈥檚 telescope, including the asteroid discovery algorithms.

鈥�91爆料 faculty recognized early on that dreaming big about Rubin鈥檚 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 91爆料 Provost Tricia R. Serio. “We often talk about the impact the 91爆料 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鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 91爆料 worked across disciplines to evolve data science and computer science to meet Rubin鈥檚 demands.

In 2017, the 91爆料 鈥� with founding support from the Charles and Lisa Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences 鈥� established the , or DiRAC. The Institute, part of the , 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 91爆料鈥檚 and the deep connections to the Pacific Northwest鈥檚 tech community, DiRAC has developed a global reputation for working toward new discoveries.

As the Rubin sets out on a 10-year mission to conduct the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), software created at the 91爆料 will be pivotal as scientists advance understanding of the cosmos and the origins of the solar system. 91爆料’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 鈥� 91爆料’s , a professor of astronomy, is the director of the federally-funded Rubin Construction Project.听

Unlike other telescopes 鈥� which tend to focus and 鈥渮oom in鈥� on a few objects of interest 鈥� Rubin is alone in the capability to quickly and repeatedly map the entire visible sky.听

鈥淩ubin has the unprecedented capacity to capture the cosmos,鈥� said , a professor of astronomy and director of 91爆料鈥檚 . He鈥檚 also the co-principal investigator of the supported LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing (LINCC) Frameworks program to develop state-of-the-art analysis techniques capable of meeting Rubin鈥檚 scale and complexity.

鈥淩ubin 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鈥檚 a data analysis endeavor of epic proportions,鈥� Connolly said.听

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 , a research associate professor and the science lead of Rubin鈥檚 time-domain software team.

鈥淲ith 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,鈥� Bellm said.

For example, the 91爆料鈥檚 team helped create simulation software to predict Rubin鈥檚 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鈥檚 orbit, 37,000 trans-Neptunian objects and about 2,000 Centaurs, or orbit-crossing objects.听

These objects, revealed in color and in more detail than was previously possible, help tell the story of the solar system鈥檚 origins, said , a professor of astronomy and the principal investigator of 91爆料鈥檚 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?

鈥淭he first look we share today is a glimpse into the transformational capacity Rubin will bring to answer questions like these,鈥� Juric said.

The work to support the Rubin Observatory hasn鈥檛 been limited to 91爆料 faculty. Numerous 91爆料 undergraduate and doctoral students have played contributing roles, authoring important journal articles, developing simulation software and writing complex computer codes.听

Exposure to the LSST has helped prepare students to succeed post graduation, whether applying for work in industry or moving onto advanced academic degrees.

鈥淒eveloping 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,鈥� said Steven Stetzler, who recently completed doctoral work at 91爆料 and now holds a postdoctoral appointment at NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

For more information, contact Juric at mjuric@uw.edu or James Davenport at jrad@uw.edu.听

With a key funding approval, the , an international astronomy project of which the 91爆料 is a founding member, is taking a major step toward becoming a reality.

The National Science Foundation agreed Friday to support the in managing construction of the long-planned telescope 鈥� called the LSST for short 鈥� to be built on Cerro Pach贸n, a mountain in northern Chile.

“The LSST is one of the most exciting experiments in astrophysics today,” said , 91爆料 professor of astronomy, who heads the 91爆料 group managing data for the telescope. “When it comes online at the end of this decade, it could completely transform our knowledge of our universe, from understanding how dark energy drives the expansion of the universe, to identifying asteroids that may one day impact the Earth.”

Connolly is one of several . Others include , professor of astronomy and project scientist; , research associate professor; Mario Juric, astronomy professor; and research associates , , Scott Daniel and , as well as graduate student .

The telescope is expected to see (or its first use) in 2019 and begin its decade of full science operations in 2022. The NSF construction budget will not exceed $473 million and annual operation costs have been estimated at $40 million, in 2013 dollars.

When operational, the telescope will scan the entire visible sky every few nights from its mountaintop location, in time producing an unprecedented astronomical survey of the universe with its 27.5-foot ground based telescope. Its data will be available to the public as well as scientists. 91爆料 work on the telescope includes building the software tools to detect nightly changes in the sky and alert astronomers globally to anything new.

The project is a partnership between the NSF and the Department of Energy. The NSF will oversee the telescope, site, data management system and education and outreach, while the Energy Department will provide the camera and related instrumentation.

The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy is a consortium of 39 U.S. institutions and six international affiliates. The telescope passed its final design review by the NSF in December of 2013. The Energy Department’s approval of the telescope’s camera is expected this fall.

The 91爆料’s Connolly said the huge flow of data from the telescope will “open up the window of time,” creating a digital movie of the universe. This will be used to create models “for how our universe works 鈥� models that can predict its future and explain its past.”

• Adapted from a by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.