A Spec in Time Series

This is a blog I started writing two years ago. I have been holding off until now. The first photos from our newest Observatory are now here.

Vera C. Rubin is one of my heroes – or should I say Her-oes. She was a scientist back in the day when women in a science lab were nearly unheard of.

Vera spent most of her young life staring into the night sky in the Philadelphia/DC area. It used to be dark enough to actually see the stars. That’s nearly impossible today. A graduate of Vassar College (Astronomy), studied at Cornell, and topped it off in 1954 with a PhD (Mathematics) from Georgetown University.   Damn! What a pedigree.

The National Science Foundation – Department of Energy Vera C. Rubin Observatory is now searching the night sky.

Why is Vera so important? Why did she receive the National Medal of Science?

Vera is called the mother of dark matter. Her work proved that dark matter is a thing. In fact, it is a possibility that dark matter may not be that dark. How is that for science? That is what scientists do: they work with what seems normal, find a new normal, and then continue to improve on those ideas.

Now they have built a bigger, better scope to help learn more about dark matter, and the space we are a small part of. Who knows what they will learn? The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will allow us to look deeper into the universe, studying galaxies and the dark spaces in between.

Basic info:

• The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is in: Cerro Pachón, Chile
• It is the largest telescope in the world.
• The images it takes are HUGE! as it is also the world’s largest digital camera. Here is the first photo released. Enjoy all that is there, and not there.

Here is the first photo released:

This photo is just a very small portion of the actual photo.

I encourage everyone to watch the video link below of the release and press conference. There is a short problem with the sound at the very beginning, but don’t let that stop you. It goes into far more detail, and you will get to see the whole photo.

There will be so much more to be seen. Stay connected for more photos and understanding to happen as we see more. Keep track of photos and updates directly from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, I know I will. https://rubinobservatory.org/

This is my favorite quote:

“In a spiral galaxy, the ratio of dark-to-light matter is about a factor of ten. That’s probably a good number for the ratio of our ignorance to knowledge. We’re out of kindergarten, but only in about third grade.” ~Vera C. Rubin

Now get out there and look at the sky!