Astronomers From Across New York Area Gather to Celebrate Release of New Telescope Data

More than 100 astronomers, astronomy students, and curiosity-filled lovers of the night skies gathered on Monday in Columbia’s Havemeyer Hall to celebrate the release of images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a major new telescope that will provide data and images that will shape our understanding of the cosmos for years to come.

Columbia’s event was one of several hundred across the country on Monday to mark the release of the first photos from the observatory. The event was co-sponsored by Columbia, the City University of New York (CUNY), Rutgers University, and Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic organization focused on the sciences. Speakers included faculty members from each university who had been involved with helping launch the observatory, and who plan to use its data to further their research.

The observatory, which is located on a mountaintop in Chile, is jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

It is named for Vera C. Rubin, an American astronomer who, in the 1970s, found the first convincing evidence of dark matter, a form of matter that, together with dark energy, constitutes most of the universe but does not interact with light or with any existing instruments, and thus has never been directly observed.

The observatory has already gathered images of the night sky more detailed than any yet taken. It will soon embark on a project called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which will survey the Southern night sky every few nights for 10 years to produce the most complete data set of the universe yet.

“This is an exciting moment for science and for our understanding of the universe,” Jeno Sokoloski, research scientist in Columbia’s Astrophysics Lab and Chief Scientist for the LSST Discovery Alliance (LSST-DA), a consortium of over three dozen institutions that plan to heavily use data from Rubin Observatory, said in remarks at Monday’s event. “We celebrate with and thank the United States taxpayers who helped make this cutting-edge research possible.”

Over the course of 10 years the Legacy Survey of Space and Time is expected to gather data on 20 billion galaxies and observe billions of changes that happens in the sky during that 10-year period. “The result will be an ultrawide, ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the Universe,” according to a press release from the observatory. “The images will reveal asteroids and comets, pulsating stars, supernova explosions, far-off galaxies, and perhaps cosmic phenomena that no one has seen before.”

The new telescope has the largest digital camera ever made. It is also notable for its computer infrastructure, the speed of its telescope, and the cutting-edge design of its mirror. Scientists expect the facility to provide breakthroughs in our understanding of dark matter and dark energy, our inventory of the solar system, and our understanding of the milky way, among other fresh insights.

Columbia researchers have been involved in a number of ways in the observatory’s launch. Former Columbia Professor Roger Angel was one of the astronomers who proposed the Legacy Survey of Space and Time that the telescope will now undertake. Steve Kahn, a former physics professor at Columbia, served as the survey’s first director. Columbia physicist Morgan May initiated the survey preparatory program at Brookhaven National Laboratory, which led the development and testing of its camera sensors. Rubin Observatory’s Project Scientist, Steve Ritz, is also a former Columbia physics professor.

Columbia astronomers at the event shared the ways they plan to use the telescope’s data. Sokoloski plans to use the data to find a hidden population of binary stars that astronomers have predicted; Kishalay De discussed how he would use the new data to explore eruptive outbursts in the lives of binary stars. Maximiliano Isi, who will join Columbia’s astronomy faculty next month, plans to use the legacy survey data to find traces of gravitational waves and black holes. Astronomy Professor Kathryn Johnston plans to find stars beyond the extremities of galaxies, lost in the empty space between them.

Researchers from the three hosting institutions spoke at Monday morning’s event in Havemeyer Hall before livestreaming the official press conference, which was held in Washington, DC. “We’re entering a golden age of American science,” Harriet Kung, acting director of DOE’s Office of Science, said in her remarks at that event. “NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory reflects what’s possible when the federal government backs world-class engineers and scientists with the tools to lead. This facility will drive discovery, inspire future innovators, and unleash American excellence through scientific leadership.”

At the morning remarks, astronomers were invited to wear alien headbands to indicate that they were trained astronomers and that visitors could ask them anything. In the afternoon, after a reception, researchers from each of the hosting institutions spoke in more detail on how they plan to use the data.

“We’re thrilled to welcome astronomers and enthusiasts from across the New York area to this launch event,” Johnston, who organized the event, said. “It was a terrific showcase for this new observatory. Over the last decade, New York City has truly emerged as a key international destination for astronomers, so it was also a wonderful opportunity to bring local experts from Rutgers, CUNY, and Columbia together to look forward to just some of the science that we will be doing with the data.”