Vera C. Rubin Observatory - First Images

Vera C. Rubin Observatory - First Images
Oktay Yürük aka Oktay74tn, science and tech content
https://imgur.com/user/Oktay74tn

Yesterday, the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory presented its first images to the world. This is an image of the Trifid Nebula at the top and the Lagoon Nebula at the bottom. The detailed picture was taken in just 7.2 hours of observing time. The Lagoon Nebula Messier 8 is an emission nebula and a star formation region at a distance of 4000 to 6000 light years from Earth.

The Trifid Nebula Messier 20 is 4100 light years away from Earth. It has a size of 42 light years. The Trifid Nebula is a combination of three features: a glowing pink emission nebula, a cool blue reflection nebula, and a dark nebula. With 20 solar masses, the O-type star HD 164492A is the most massive star in the region.

The Virgo Cluster is a cluster of galaxies 54 million light-years away. The Rubin image shows some of its at least 1300 galaxies in great detail. The bright blue objects are foreground stars of the Milky Way.

This zoomed-in picture of the Virgo Cluster shows two spiral galaxies face-on. At the top there are three merging galaxies. The tiny red dots are distant galaxy groups.

This image shows some of the 46 RR Lyrae variable stars detected by Rubin. Over the next 10 years, Rubin will find about 100,000 of these stars extending out to more than a million light-years away. RR Lyrae stars can be used for distance measurements.

In 10 hours of observations, Rubin discovered 2104 new asteroids. Seven of them are near-Earth objects that are not dangerous to Earth. 11 Jupiter trojans and 9 trans-Neptunian objects were found.

This is a nice early-evening image of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. The bright object at the top right is planet Venus. The tiny dot to the left of Venus is the Comet Leonard with its two tails.

Welcome to your First Look at the cosmos from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory
https://rubinobservatory.org/

Bringing the night sky to life
NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory will revolutionize the way we explore the cosmos
https://rubinobservatory.org/

All-seeing eye
Daniel Clery
https://www.science.org/content/article/giant-all-seeing-telescope-set-revolutionize-astronomy

‘First light’ images from Vera C. Rubin Observatory coming Monday: Here’s how to watch
https://www.astronomy.com/science/how-to-see-rubin-observatorys-first-light-images/
Alison Klesman

Wikipedia articles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_C._Rubin_Observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagoon_Nebula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifid_Nebula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgo_cluster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RR_Lyrae_variable

Vera C. Rubin Observatory - First Light (technology and science goals)
https://imgur.com/gallery/vera-c-rubin-observatory-first-light-JdjhAVl

Check out https://imgur.com/user/Oktay74tn for many more astronomy and technology videos.