See the first amazing photos taken by the world's largest digital camera

The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has released the first images, demonstrating the incredible capabilities of its groundbreaking 3,200-megapixel digital camera - the largest in the world today.

Top scientific work

Costing $800 million and taking 10 years to build, the new observatory marks a major step forward in astronomical research. Located at an altitude of 8,684 feet (2,647 meters) on Cerro Pachón, near the edge of the Atacama Desert, the facility benefits from an extremely dry and stable atmosphere – ideal conditions for astronomical observations.

During a test phase that began a few months ago, the system captured stunning images of the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula – both busy stellar nurseries located thousands of light-years away. The images were made up of 678 separate exposures over the course of seven hours, revealing intricate details and previously unseen features in vivid color.

'The NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory will collect more information about the universe than all optical telescopes in history combined,' said NSF Interim Director Brian Stone. 'Through this incredible scientific facility, we will uncover many of the mysteries of the universe, including the dark matter and dark energy that permeate the universe.'

Future Mission

The Rubin Observatory is preparing to launch a 10-year survey called the Legacy in Space and Time (LSST) that is scheduled to begin later this year. The ambitious project aims to map the entire southern sky every three to four nights. The result will be a super-wide, ultra-sharp time-lapse record of the universe that promises to yield countless scientific discoveries.

"The resulting images will reveal valuable information about asteroids and comets, supernova explosions, distant galaxies and perhaps even previously unknown cosmic phenomena," said a representative of the Rubin Observatory.

In just its first 10 hours of observations, the Rubin Observatory has recorded more than 2,100 previously unseen asteroids and captured images of millions of galaxies and stars in the Milky Way. Although there are still several crucial months of testing and in-depth evaluation, everything we see today is a treasure trove of new architecture.

Lesley Montoya

Update 01 July 2025