The telescope’s journey started within the early 1600s when Dutch spectacle maker Jan Lippershey found that combining lenses may enlarge distant objects. Galileo Galilei rapidly improved the designs and have become the primary to discover the heavens, revealing the Moon’s craters, Jupiter’s moons and the rings of Saturn. Over the centuries, telescopes developed from easy lens combos to huge ground-based observatories with monumental mirrors, and ultimately to space-based devices just like the Hubble Area Telescope that eradicated Earth’s atmospheric interference. At present’s cutting-edge telescopes, such because the James Webb Area Telescope, use superior expertise to look deeper into area than ever earlier than.

The Hubble Area Telescope as seen from the departing Area Shuttle Atlantis, flying STS-125, HST Servicing Mission 4. (Credit score : NASA)

Among the many astronomers who used these highly effective devices to revolutionize our view of the universe was Vera Rubin, whose groundbreaking observations within the Nineteen Seventies would shake the very foundations of physics. Working with more and more refined telescopes, Rubin studied the rotation of spiral galaxies, anticipating to substantiate what appeared like primary physics: that stars farther from the middle of a galaxy ought to orbit extra slowly, simply as outer planets in our Photo voltaic System transfer extra leisurely than interior ones. As a substitute, her exact measurements revealed one thing completely surprising: stars on the edges of galaxies have been transferring far too quick, as if held in place by invisible matter that astronomers could not see. This discovery of what we now name darkish matter did not simply add a brand new chapter to astronomy, it revealed that the overwhelming majority of the universe consists of a mysterious, unseen substance that continues to puzzle us at the moment.

Darkish matter map for a patch of sky primarily based on gravitational lensing evaluation of a Kilo-Diploma Survey (Credit score : Kilo-Diploma Survey Collaboration)

Now, a new-generation telescope bearing Rubin’s identify is poised to proceed her revolutionary work. Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory that has been beneath building in Chile’s Atacama Desert. It is going to conduct probably the most complete survey of the evening sky ever tried, photographing the whole seen southern sky each few nights for ten years! This technological marvel, outfitted with the world’s largest digital digital camera containing 3.2 billion pixels, will not simply seek for the refined results of darkish matter however will catalog billions of stars and galaxies, observe harmful asteroids, and monitor the universe’s fixed modifications in actual time. When it lastly begins operations, the Rubin Observatory will generate extra astronomical knowledge in its first month than all earlier telescopes mixed have collected all through historical past, that’s together with my photographs too!

The telescope options an 8.4-meter main mirror with a three-mirror design that gives an exceptionally broad 3.5-degree subject of view, seven instances the realm of the total Moon. At its core is the Legacy Survey of Area and Time (LSST) Digital camera, the world’s largest digital digital camera composed of 189 particular person CCD sensors, weighing in at 3,200 kilograms and working at -100°C to minimise digital noise. Situated at 2,647 meters elevation on Chile’s Cerro Pachón, the observatory’s design eliminates conventional mirror obstructions whereas delivering sharp photographs throughout its whole subject of view. It will possibly slew between targets in simply 5 seconds and can function utilizing six optical filters, finishing a full sky survey each three nights with 15-second exposures. Over its 10-year mission, it is going to catalog an estimated 20 billion galaxies and 17 billion stars.

Artist impression of the finished LSST (Credit score : LSST Press Workplace)

It is unimaginable that it has been simply over 400 years since our first take a look at the universe by way of Galileo’s telescope. We are actually about to maybe hit one other unimaginable milestone because the astronomical neighborhood eagerly awaits one other historic second! On twenty third June 2025 at 15:00 UTC, the Rubin Observatory will unveil its first spectacular photographs in what they’re calling the “First Look” occasion. This occasion will probably be live-streamed through YouTube, permitting individuals worldwide to witness this thrilling second collectively. It represents extra than simply one other technological achievement; it symbolises our relentless pursuit to grasp the universe, carrying ahead Vera Rubin’s legacy of discovery into an age the place the observatory that carries her identify will give us an entire new view of the universe.

Hyperlinks to the reside stream could be discovered on the Rubin Observatory website

Supply : Coming June 23, 2025: First Look at the cosmos with NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Sen. Alex Padilla blasted the Trump administration Saturday, calling it “petty and unserious” after Vice President JD Vance referred to him as “Jose” throughout a information convention in Los Angeles yesterday.

“He is aware of my title,” Padilla stated in an look on MSNBC on Saturday morning.

Vance visited Los Angeles on Friday for lower than 5 hours after a number of weeks of federal immigration raids within the metropolis and surrounding areas, sparking protests and backlash from state and native officers.

Padilla was thrown into the heated nationwide immigration debate when he was dragged to the bottom by federal legislation enforcement officers and briefly detained when he tried to ask U.S. Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem a query throughout a information convention earlier this month.

Vance characterised the transfer by California’s first Latino senator as “political theater” in his remarks.

“I hoped Jose Padilla could be right here to ask a query, however sadly I assume he determined to not present up as a result of there wasn’t a theater, and that’s all it’s,” Vance stated.

Vance served alongside Padilla within the Senate and is now the president of the higher chamber of Congress. Vance’s press secretary, Taylor Van Kirk, instructed Politico that the vice chairman misspoke and “should have combined up two individuals who have damaged the legislation.”

Padilla, in his TV interview, stated he broke no legal guidelines.

He recommended the misnaming was intentional — and a mirrored image of the administration’s skewed priorities.

“He’s the vice chairman of the USA.” Padilla stated. “You suppose he’d take the the scenario in Los Angeles extra significantly.”

Padilla stated Vance may as a substitute have taken the chance to speak to households or employers affected by raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Different California Democrats rallied behind Padilla after the misnaming incident.

“Calling him ‘Jose Padilla’ shouldn’t be an accident,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom stated in a Friday post on the social media platform X.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass highlighted racial undertones in Vance’s feedback.

“I assume he simply regarded like anyone to you, however he’s not simply anyone to us,” she said during a press conference on Friday. “He’s our senator.”