A Cosmic Movie: The Vera Rubin Observatory (NEW RELEASE!)
David Helfand has been a Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University for 47 years, where he served as chair of the Department for two decades. He is also the former President of the American Astronomical Society and of Quest University Canada, and currently serves as Chair of the American Institute of Physics. Professor Helfand has received the Columbia Presidential Teaching Award and the Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates. He is the author of A Survival Guide to the Misinformation Age and, recently The Universal Timekeepers: Reconstructing History Atom by Atom.
Overview
The cosmic scales of space and time are vast. It takes a few million years for a planet to form and over 10 billion years before a star like the Sun runs out of fuel. Thus, most things in the sky change slowly, usually on timescales much longer than a human lifetime. But not everything.
From stellar flares to thermonuclear explosions on white dwarfs, and from the cataclysmic destruction of massive stars to supermassive black holes feasting on anything that wander too close, there is a dynamic element to the sky which traditional telescopes often miss.
Enter the Rubin Observatory. Beginning in 2025, this amazing new facility will conduct a Legacy Survey of Space and Time, imaging the entire southern sky every few days to produce a cosmic movie that will reveal millions of transient phenomena of the types we know and, mostly likely, of new ones that will surprise us. With its 27.5-foot mirror and 3200-megapixel camera, the telescopes will produce about 20 terabytes of data every night. Artificial Intelligence will be essential to interpreting the tidal wave of information. This entirely new way of observing the Universe no doubt has many surprises in store.