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Rubin Observatory to Detect Millions of New Solar System Objects in Vivid Detail, Simulations Suggest

  • The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on Cerro Pachón in Chile, will begin full operations later in 2025 to survey the solar system’s small bodies.
  • New research led by Queen’s University Belfast in collaboration with the University of Washington indicates that the Rubin Observatory will identify millions of new small objects in the solar system, including asteroids, comets, and various minor planets.
  • Rubin features an 8.4-meter three-mirror simulator telescope and the 3.2-gigapixel LSST Camera, which will survey the visible sky every few nights and generate 20 terabytes of data nightly.
  • Simulations predict Rubin will map 127,000 near-Earth objects, over 5 million main-belt asteroids, 109,000 Jupiter Trojans, and 37,000 trans-Neptunian objects, expanding known populations by 4 to 9 times.
  • This enhanced mapping will improve planetary defense by reducing undetected asteroid impact risks and provide data to update solar system formation models and understand planetary migration.
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At the top of Cerro Pachón, in the region of Coquimbo, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a new astronomy giant, is about to turn his gaze on the cosmos. It is not just another telescope, but an instrument that promises to transform our understanding of the universe, allowing us to observe previously unknown phenomena with unprecedented precision.From its privileged location in Chile, this observatory will not only record the movements of stars and …

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GeekWire broke the news in Seattle, United States on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
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