The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has launched a picture captured with its 3.2-gigapixel LSST Digicam, the most important digital digital camera on the planet. The image, made public on July 31, 2026, options the COSMOS subject, a well-studied patch of sky within the constellation Sextans, and accommodates greater than half one million galaxies and over 50,000 stars.
The picture was created by stacking a whole bunch of particular person observations, in keeping with an official press launch by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. As a result of the COSMOS subject lies away from the crowded aircraft of the Milky Means, comparatively few brilliant foreground stars hinder the view, permitting the telescope to see huge numbers of distant galaxies whose mild has travelled for billions of years to achieve Earth, explains the press launch.
The COSMOS subject has been studied extensively since 2003, when the Hubble House Telescope first pointed at it. Since then, observatories around the globe have noticed it in wavelengths starting from radio waves to X-rays. Rubin’s contribution combines depth, wide-field protection, and the power to revisit the identical space repeatedly, which can assist astronomers examine how the sky adjustments over time.
The picture marks Rubin’s Early Information Preview 2, the primary information launch primarily based on observations from the LSST Digicam. It combines science validation observations taken between April 2025 and January 2026 and offers researchers with a deep stacked picture overlaying 3,000 sq. levels of the southern sky, roughly one-sixth of the seen Southern Hemisphere.
“The COSMOS deep picture is only the start for Rubin on this area,” stated Bob Blum, Director of the Rubin Observatory at NSF NOIRLab, as per the official put up. “Repeated visits to the sphere over the following few years will reveal the facility of our survey design for discovery.”
The COSMOS subject is among the many areas that can be noticed extra steadily throughout the Legacy Survey of House and Time, Rubin’s ten-year venture to create probably the most complete cinematic file of the Universe, states the official supply. The complete survey has solely not too long ago begun. Information is presently obtainable to researchers within the US and Chile, in addition to authorised worldwide companions, and can be launched publicly after a two-year proprietary interval.
You possibly can view the complete picture here.
