The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is set to release its first images on June 23, 2025. The observatory features the largest digital camera ever built, with a 3,200-megapixel capacity.
We are T-7 days from the reveal of @nsf–@doescience Rubin Observatory's first images!
This reveal, which we call "First Look," is the next step towards being ready to start making your new favorite decade-long movie 🎥 pic.twitter.com/8QpgSYJODi
— NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory (@VRubinObs) June 16, 2025
T-7 days! We're getting so close to the reveal of NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's first images 🤩#RubinFirstLook
Get ready for your first preview of how Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos in its decade-long survey 🎬
🗓️: June 23, 2025
⌚️: 11am US EDT
🔗: https://t.co/147xo1VmyO— NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory (@VRubinObs) June 16, 2025
This groundbreaking event will be livestreamed on YouTube at 15:00 UTC (11:00 EDT), allowing viewers worldwide to witness the beginning of a new era in sky studies. The observatory will conduct a 10-year survey of the southern sky called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Using near-ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths, it will capture the entire sky every few days, essentially creating a massive timelapse of the Universe.
Each section of the sky will be recorded approximately 800 times using the telescope’s camera.
The countdown is on for the world's first look at images from the NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory on June 23, 2025, at 11 a.m. EDT. Experience the cosmos like never before. Join one of @VRubinObs watch parties: https://t.co/hwWO439OBo. #CaptureTheCosmos pic.twitter.com/VTDdGOeLwW
— U.S. National Science Foundation (@NSF) June 17, 2025
Rubin Observatory is expected to generate about 20 terabytes of data every 24 hours and collect some 60 petabytes of raw image data over the course of the survey. This unparalleled data collection ability will provide astronomers with new insights into the Universe.
Rubin Observatory’s unveiling event details
The telescope’s combination of speed, a wide field of view, and a sensitive camera pushes the boundaries of astronomical observation. It will be able to detect both real-time changes in the sky and faint or distant objects simultaneously on an enormous scale.
This means that exceedingly rare events in the sky, never detected before, will be captured for the first time. The observatory’s initial goal was to study dark matter and dark energy, but astronomers soon realized that it could also study almost anything, whether seen or unseen. The telescope features a unique three-mirror structure, with the primary and tertiary mirrors combined, providing a collecting area of 6.67 meters.
The camera, a 1.5-meter cube, is designed to collect a vast amount of data by seeing more of the sky at once, taking more images at night, and getting more detail in each photo. Over the next decade, it will capture 1,000 images a night with the mission of cataloging 20 billion galaxies. The First Look event at the observatory will unveil a set of large, ultra-high-definition images and videos, marking the beginning of a new era in astronomy and astrophysics.
The event will be shown live on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s channel, with hundreds of venues worldwide hosting watch parties featuring a public viewing of the live stream.
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