NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory

A complex entanglement of three interacting galaxies, bright cores lined up left to right and connectied by spiderweb-like tendrils. The background is black, sprinkled with countless galaxies and stars of varying colors and sizes

Two interacting galaxies, one larger and blue and the other smaller and more yellow. The background is sprinkled with stars and galaxies of varying colors and sizes.

Two interacting galaxies at center, bright cores lined up upper left to lower right and connected by spiderweb-like tendrils. The background is black, sprinkled with countless galaxies and stars of varying colors and sizes.

A complex yet compact collection of four interacting galaxies. The three galaxies to the left are virtually indistinguishable, with only their cores somewhat standing out. In the "elbow" of these three galaxies is a larger red star. Finally, the fourth galaxy is connected to the three by a barely visible tendril, while a second long tendril extends to the right. The background is black, sprinkled with countless galaxies and stars of varying colors and sizes.

Not all galaxies wander space alone...and sometimes they're too close for comfort 😔

Galaxies can interact, collide, and merge. By studying snapshots of these interactions, scientists can gain insight into how galaxies evolve over billions of years⏳

Hunt for more in Skyviewer: skyviewer.app

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☄️ Say hello to Comet 3I/ATLAS as seen by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory! Comet 3I/ATLAS is just the third interstellar object ever spotted in our Solar System. Rubin Observatory didn’t discover it, but… Interstellar Object Comet 3I/ATLAS as seen by NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory!

☄️ Say hello to Comet 3I/ATLAS, just the third interstellar object ever seen in our Solar System!

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory didn’t discover the comet, but even during testing, it caught a glimpse. Imagine what we'll find once full science operations begin later this year! 🔭🧪

Promotional graphic for the Rubin Observatory coloring book. The background is primarily teal with accents of yellow. On the right are some of the coloring book pages. On the left, text reads "NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory invites you to enjoy our free downloadable coloring book!"

Going stir crazy and need a screen-free activity?

Introducing the NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory coloring book! 🎨🌌

No screens, and no assembly required (unless you count crayons). Print one page or the whole book, and get coloring! 🖍️

🔗: ls.st/coloring-book 🔭🧪

A view from the back of a conference room, with presentation slides on screen at the front of the room, and people occupying rows of seats. The person closest to the camera is turned around and smiling.

The check-in and registration tables for a conference, located in a large and open hotel atrium. The long tables are put together in a U-shaped configuration, with name badges, conference t-shirts, and other conference information on them.

A view from the back of a conference room, with presentation slides on screen at the front of the room, and people occupying rows of seats.

A view from the back of a conference room, with presentation slides on screen at the front of the room, and people occupying rows of seats.

Ready for a week of science and collaboration!🤓

This week, hundreds of #RubinTeam members are gathering in Tucson, AZ and virtually for the 2025 Rubin Community Workshop. #Rubin2025 🔭🧪

We're excited for 5 days of diving into data, tools, and science discoveries together! 💫

Skyviewer

Did you know: The colors of galaxies in a cluster enable scientists to measure the cluster's distance from Earth.

Thanks to the Universe's expansion over billions of years, very distant clusters appear redder than they actually are. This is called redshift!

Visit skyviewer.app to hunt for more 🔭

A glittering tapestry of thousands of galaxies in varying sizes, shapes, and colors. At center is a distinct collection of galaxies, all of a similar yellow color.

A glittering tapestry of thousands of galaxies in varying sizes, shapes, and colors. At center is a distinct collection of galaxies, all of a similar orange color.

A glittering tapestry of thousands of galaxies in varying sizes, shapes, and colors. At center is a distinct collection of galaxies, all of a similar red color.

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view of the Virgo Cluster is full of galaxy clusters: collections of gravitationally-bound galaxies ✨ They can be identified as similarly colored smudges concentrated together.

Here, we can see three different clusters at different distances. #RubinFirstLook 🔭🧪

Edge-on spiral galaxy angled pointing lower left to upper right. It's glowing with a bright core that's cut with the dark veins of dust clouds. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space.

A smooth, cigar-shaped galaxy angled pointing lower left to upper right glowing with a bright core. Two bright stars beam just to the upper left and lower right of the galaxy. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space.

A face-on spiral with a bright core and sweeping arms knotted with blue clusters of star-forming regions. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space.

A face-on spiral with a bright core and a single thin arm wrapping all the way around, almost looking like a ring. Two bright blue stars beam above and to the lower left of the galaxy, with a third yellow star to the lower right. The background is peppered with a myriad of colorful stars and distant galaxies in black space.

Happy birthday, Vera Rubin! 🥳✨

What better way to celebrate than with NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's view of galaxies SHE studied?

NGC 4343, 4526, 4535, and 4378 are just a few gems from our Cosmic Treasure Chest. Explore them and more at skyviewer.app 🔭🧪

Aerial view of a boot-shaped observatory with long white service building and an open dome revealing its telescope atop a rocky mountain during golden hour with distant hills. Credit: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/T. Matsopoulos

It's like the holidays in July...our first week-long workshop after the first NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory image reveal! 🎁

We're one week out from the Rubin Community Workshop in Tucson, and we can't wait for five days of rich discussions & observatory updates! #Rubin2025 🔭🧪

Ever been to a party so good you couldn’t stop talking about it?

Same here 🥳

#RubinFirstLook was unforgettable, and made even more incredible thanks to 360+ Watch Parties around the world celebrating with us on June 23! 🔭🧪

Enjoy this trip down memory lane with us 🤩

Rubin with M41 during First Look Observations NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is seen with its dome open during First Look observation activities in April 2025. M41, the Little Beehive Cluster, can be seen over the telescope.

Stellar clusters provide excellent opportunities to study how stars form and evolve. 🔭🧪

By studying stellar populations like dense globular clusters or loose open clusters in detail, Rubin will help scientists understand how stars are born, live, and die.🌌

rubinobservatory.org/gallery/coll...

Rubin Observatory perched atop its mountain summit site on Cerro Pachón. The observatory is boot-shaped at lower left with long white service building extending left and silver dome sticking up. The dome's vertical slit is open, revealing the telescope in the blackness within. The night sky is peppered with the pinpricks of stars, and the Moon shines like a spotlight at right. The Little Beehive Cluster of stars is a denser collection of pinpricks to the upper right of the observatory.

Oh, bee-have! 🐝

The Little Beehive Cluster 🐝 (also known as Messier 41) is a dazzling open star cluster about 2300 light-years away. It's made of about 100 stars born from the same cloud of gas. 🌫️

This stunning nightscape captures NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory and M41 together ✨🔭🧪

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory Launches Orbitviewer App | Rubin Observatory New 3D, interactive visualization of planets and minor planets in our Solar System lets you explore Rubin discoveries in real time

Zoom, pan, and play with time to see the Solar System in motion. Click or tap on selected objects to learn more about them, and visualize their orbits in ☄️

You can even adjust your view to highlight objects discovered by Rubin! 🔭🧪

Learn more at rubinobservatory.org/news/orbitvi... 🪐

Rubin's thousands of newly-discovered asteroids....now in your web browser!

Introducing NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's 3D Orbitviewer ☄️🪐

Follow along as Rubin discovers millions more asteroids in our Solar System in the coming years at orbitviewer.app 🔭🧪

Dense field of blue and yellow stars against a vibrant, glowing backdrop of orange and red nebula clouds.

Dense cluster of bright blue stars shining like beacons against wispy nebula cloud of orange and blue. The background is filled with countless smaller stars.

Image of a globular cluster with a radiant core and a mix of blue and orange stars spread throughout against a yellow-orange background of wispy nebula clouds.

Our favorite kinds of fireworks are the cosmic kind 🌟🎆

Our #RubinFirstLook image of the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae has plenty of cosmic fireworks to explore! Let the bright, young stars in these clusters add some sparkle to your #FourthOfJuly holiday ✨🔭🧪

📷: NSF–DOE Rubin Obs.

📷: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/DOE/NSF/AURA

1️⃣ "Cosmic Abundance," from Rubin's view of the Virgo Cluster
2️⃣ "Cosmic Drama," from Rubin's view of the Virgo Cluster
3️⃣ Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae
4️⃣ Messier 21, from Rubin's view of Trifid and Lagoon

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A field of galaxies scattered across the deep black of space. It is filled with galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the multi-colored points of stars. To the lower left is a region filled with the hundreds of golden glittering gems of a distant galaxy cluster. In the foreground, below and left of center, two blue spiral galaxies look like eyes to the left of the entangled mass of a triple merger. A few bright blue points of foreground stars pierce the glittering tapestry.

A field of galaxies scattered across the black of space. It is filled with galaxies of many shapes, sizes and colors, as well as the bright multi-colored points of stars. The image focuses on a collection of interacting galaxies connected by delicate streams of stars. Like spider silk, these stellar bridges link the large elliptical to the few larger galaxies beneath.

A tapestry of glowing tan and pink gas clouds with dark dust lanes. In the lower right, the Trifid Nebula resembles a small flower in space. Its pink gas petals are surrounded by blue gas, and streaked with dark veins of dust. To the upper left, the larger Lagoon Nebula stretches wide like a churning sea of magenta gas, with bright blue, knotted clumps sprinkled throughout

Dense cluster of bright blue stars shining like beacons against wispy nebula cloud of orange and blue. The background is filled with countless smaller stars.

#WallpaperWednesday: #RubinFirstLook edition 🤩

Need a new phone background? Loved the first images from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory?

We've got you! Save one of these to use, set it, and enjoy the cosmos captured by Rubin every time you use your phone 🌌🔭🧪

❤️

A Swarm of New Asteroids | Rubin Observatory Watch the sky move! Rubin Observatory reveals over 2,100 new asteroids in its First Look preview

By dramatically increasing discovery rates, Rubin will give scientists the earliest possible warning of any potential impact threats — and help us understand our cosmic backyard better than ever before! 🔭🧪

Learn more about Rubin's first asteroid discoveries: rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-f...

A six by six grid of grayscale panels with smudges or dots of white showing galaxies or stars. In each panel, a small dot is circled with a teal circle.

Rubin will uncover millions more asteroids over the next ten years, including up to ~100,000 near-Earth asteroids. That's thanks to its enormous light-collecting power and ability to take a new snapshot of the entire visible sky every few nights. 🔭🧪

A large spiral galaxy with golden core and arms knotted with the blue clumps of stars forming sits against a background of velvet black peppered with galaxies of various shapes, sizes, and colors. A few dozen multi-colored streaks photobomb the spiral galaxy, with white arrows pointing at them. The streaks are like sprinkles across the view, just a tiny fraction of the width of the large galaxy. From left to right, the streaks are red, then green, then blue.

Asteroids appear to move against the background of stars and galaxies from our perspective on Earth, which is why they appear as multi-colored streaks in this image made from about 10 hours of observing over seven nights.🔭 🧪

A large spiral galaxy with golden core and arms knotted with the blue clumps of stars forming sits against a background of velvet black peppered with galaxies of various shapes, sizes, and colors.

A large spiral galaxy with golden core and arms knotted with the blue clumps of stars forming sits against a background of velvet black peppered with galaxies of various shapes, sizes, and colors. A few dozen multi-colored streaks photobomb the spiral galaxy. The streaks are like sprinkles across the view, just a tiny fraction of the width of the large galaxy. From left to right, the streaks are red, then green, then blue.

Spot the difference 🧐

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's First Look images from last week didn't just include millions of galaxies and stars....but also thousands of asteroids! 🔭🧪

Seven of those were near-Earth asteroids never seen before, but don't worry— none of them pose a threat to Earth.

Zooniverse The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.

And we're far from done — this project is just the first of many! We're officially in the era of citizen science with Rubin ✨🔭🧪

Make sure you don't miss out on contributing to cutting-edge science when new Rubin projects go live on the Zooniverse.

🔗 www.zooniverse.org/rubin

Zooniverse The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.

Comet Catchers is open to all, no special training required! All you need are curiosity and the desire to contribute to real scientific discovery. Be part of it now at cometcatchers.net ☄️🔭🧪

Zooniverse The Zooniverse is the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.

In this project, you'll help Rubin scientists spot comets in early data collected using the observatory's engineering test camera.🔭🧪

These fascinating objects are full of secrets about the early Solar System, and studying them helps us understand our origins ☄️

Rubin Observatory beneath the vibrant blue sky of twilight. The observatory is a boot-shaped structure at center, with long white service building and vertical silver dome. The thin, faint streak of a comet appears to the left of the observatory. Text reads "New citizen science project using NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory data. Introducing: Comet Catchers. Join the hunt for comets in Rubin data!"

Think you can spot a comet? ☄️

Try your eye with the *very first* citizen science project on @zooniverse.bsky.social that uses data from NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory, Comet Catchers! 🔭🧪

We can't think of a more fitting project for #AsteroidDay 🤩

☄️ cometcatchers.net ☄️

A giant collage of selfies shaped in the roughly-plus-shape of LSST Camera's focal plane

Did someone say #NationalCameraDay? 📷

We wanted to celebrate ours by creating a giant 3200-megapixel group photo inspired by our LSST Camera...and here it is, featuring many of YOU!

Grab this epic group photo at rubinobservatory.org/gallery 🔭🧪

An elderly Vera Rubin with short white hair and blue shirt stands on top of a desk in front of a wide shelf full of books.

🌟 As Rubin Observatory gears up to #CaptureTheCosmos, we look forward to continuing on her work and finding even more cosmic discoveries! 🔭🧪

Has Vera Rubin impacted or influenced you in any way? Share your stories below 👇

An elderly Vera Rubin with short white hair and blue shirt smiles at the camera.

🌌 Her work opened up an entirely new subfield of astrophysics! Rubin was convinced that physicists would figure out what dark matter was within 10 years of her observations, but it has proven MUCH more elusive than that. 🔭🧪

An adult Vera Rubin leans down beneath a large observatory telescope that extends up and out of frame.

⚫️ Rubin provided convincing evidence of the existence of dark matter – we call it "dark" because it does not emit light, and we still don’t know what it’s made of. 🔭🧪

Black and white photo of a young Vera Rubin looking up through a telescope

🔭 Rubin was born in 1928. As she was developing her love for astronomy as a young girl, she also built her own telescope with her father. 🔭🧪