First image of the southern sky taken with the world's largest digital camera published

It's known as "first light," and, broadly speaking, it's the first snapshot taken by an instrument. However, in this case, this first snapshot is historic, because it's the first light taken by the world's largest digital camera. This Monday, the first images from the Rubin Observatory, located in Chile, were made public. Its mission is to create the most complete film of the night sky ever made. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is the mapping project that will scan the southern sky over the next 10 years. The project is an international collaboration funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), with the participation of two centers of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

The Rubin Observatory sets a new standard for astronomical mapping, as it is equipped with the largest digital camera ever built in the field of astronomy, which will repeatedly photograph the sky to create a time-lapse Ultra-wide high-definition Universe All of this will be made possible by an innovative mirror design, unmatched camera sensitivity, rapid panning capability and powerful computing infrastructure.

30 countries and Catalan presence

"It is the first time that a telescope with such a large aperture, more than eight meters in diameter, has been used completely dedicated to scanning the sky for ten years. In addition to producing a dynamic movie of the entire southern sky throughout this decade, it will allow all the images to be combined to detect the faintest objects ever observed from the Space Telescope (ICE-CSIC). Galbany insists that being able to use the Rubin Observatory is like "having the most precise and productive machine for discovering supernovae and other stellar explosions, with more than one hundred thousand alerts of new objects every night."

The Institute of Space Sciences is one of the Spanish centers participating in this pioneering project, in which there is also a significant Catalan presence. Among the thousands of researchers from more than 30 countries working for the Rubin Observatory mission are the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), the Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE) and the Scientific Information Port (PIC), which are part of a (UAM-CSI Energy, Environmental and Technological Consortium) and the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC).