What will the Rubin Observatory do?

Investigating the dark universe: dark matter Investigating the dark universe: dark energy Surveying the Solar System Tracking transients The Milky Way’s galactic diet

One of the most exciting prospects offered by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is the investigation of one of the universe’s most mysterious aspects: dark matter. Vera Rubin offered the first evidence that as much as 85 per cent of galaxies’ matter is tied up in a substance that doesn’t behave like ordinary matter. Solving the mysteries surrounding its nature could help us to understand how galaxies are shaped.

While dark matter’s gravitational influence holds galaxies together, the influence of dark energy drives them apart at an accelerating rate, expanding the very fabric of space between them. Project director Steven Kahn says: “We believe that Rubin will deliver very tight constraints on our knowledge of the expansion history of the universe, which should help us to understand the nature of dark energy.”

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will help astronomers better understand space on our doorstep by assisting them in cataloguing the Solar System’s smaller inhabitants. Small bodies like those in the Kuiper Belt contain clues to the conditions in the Solar System before the planets formed. The

Vera C. Rubin Observatory is perfectly equipped to study such objects due to its ability to precisely track moving objects.

The observatory’s impressive eye for change will be able to track changes in some of the most powerful events in the universe, like supernovae, best understood by watching how they change over time. While previous surveys have built an impressive fundamental understanding of how stars change throughout their lives, Rubin will follow in their wake with its impressive depth of vision, filling in gaps and solidifying this knowledge.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will allow astronomers to study the structure, composition and kinematics of the stars in our galaxy. Locked within these qualities and the distribution of main sequence stars is the history of the Milky Way. In particular, astronomers will be looking to model the growth of our galaxy’s halo over time, likely revealing its history of cannibalising smaller galaxies.