Measuring distances in the universe is much more challenging than measuring distances on Earth. Is one brighter star closer to Earth than another star, or is it simply emitting more light? To make reliable distance measurements, scientists rely on objects that emit known amounts of light, such as Type Ia supernova,
These spectacular explosions, among the brightest ever recorded in the night sky, have resulted in violent deaths white dwarf The stars provide scientists with a reliable cosmic yardstick. Their brightness and color, combined with information about their host galaxies, allow scientists to calculate their distances and how much the universe expanded when their light came to us. With enough Type Ia supernova observations, scientists can measure the expansion rate of the universe and whether it changes over time.
Although we have caught thousands of Type Ia supernovae to date, seeing them once or twice is not enough – there is a goldmine of information about how their fleeting light changes over time. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory It will soon begin scanning the Southern Hemisphere sky every night for ten years, covering the entire hemisphere approximately every few nights. Whenever Rubin detects an object’s brightness or position changing, it will send an alert to the science community. With such fast detection, Rubin will be our most powerful tool yet for detecting Type Ia supernovae before they fade away.
The Rubin Observatory is jointly funded by the US National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science. Rubin has a joint program NSF NoirLab and does SLAC National Accelerator LaboratoryWhich will co-operate with Rubin.
Scientists like Anais Moller, a member of the Rubin/LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration, look forward to Rubin’s decade-long legacy survey of space and time (LSST), during which millions of Type Ia supernovae are expected to be detected. “The large amount of data from Rubin will give us a sample of all types of Type Ia supernovae at different distances and in many different types of galaxies.” Moller says.
In fact, Rubin would discover many more Type Ia supernovae in the first few months of LSST than were used in the initial discovery. dark energy – The mysterious force that causes the universe to expand faster than expected based on gravitational theory. current measurement prompt That dark energy may change over time, which if confirmed could help refine our understanding of the age and evolution of the universe. This will have implications for our understanding of the formation of the universe, including how fast stars and galaxies formed in the early universe.
With a much larger set of Type Ia supernovae from across the universe, scientists will be able to refine our existing map of space and time, providing a more complete picture of the effects of dark energy. “The expansion of the universe is like the stretching of a rubber band. If dark energy is not stable, it would be like stretching a rubber band by different amounts at different points.” Moller says. “I think that in the next decade we will be able to control whether dark energy is constant or evolving over cosmic time. Rubin will allow us to do this with Type Ia supernovae.
Each night the Rubin Observatory will produce approximately 20 terabytes of data and generate 10 million alerts – no other telescope in history has generated such a firehose of data. This requires scientists to rethink how to manage rapid alerts and develop methods and systems to handle large incoming datasets.
Rubin’s flood of nightly alerts will be managed and made available to scientists through seven community software systems that will ingest and process these alerts before serving them to scientists around the world. Moller, along with a large collaboration of scientists with different expertise, is developing one of these systems, called Fink.
Software systems collect alerts from Rubin each night, merge the Rubin data with other datasets, and use machine learningClassify them according to their type, like kilonova, variable starsor Type Ia supernova, among others. Scientists using one of Rubin’s community systems, such as Fink, will be able to sort huge datasets of alerts according to selected filters, allowing them to quickly access data useful for their research.
“Because of the huge amount of data, we can’t do science like we used to,” Moller says. “Rubin is a generational change. And our responsibility is to develop methods that will be used by the next generation.
More information
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, is a groundbreaking new astronomy and astrophysics observatory under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile, with first light expected in 2025 . It is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who provided the first solid evidence for the existence of dark matter. Using the largest camera ever built, Rubin will repeatedly scan the sky for 10 years and create an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition, time-lapse record of our universe.
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a joint initiative of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE/SCIts primary mission is to conduct legacy surveys of space and time, providing an unprecedented data set for scientific research supported by both agencies. Rubin is jointly operated by NSF NoirLab And SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The NSF NOIRLab is managed by the Consortium of Universities for Research in Astronomy (aura) and is operated by SLAC Stanford University For DOE. France provides significant support through contributions to the construction and operation of the Rubin Observatory. CNRS,IN2P3The Rubin Observatory has the privilege of conducting research in Chile and gratefully acknowledges the additional contributions of more than 40 international organizations and teams.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that will change the future.
DOE’s Office of Science is the largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
NSF NoirLabOperates the US National Science Foundation Center for Ground-Based Optical-Infrared Astronomy International Gemini Observatory (a feature of NSF, nrc-canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-ArgentinaAnd kasi-republic of korea), NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), Community Science and Data Center (csdc), and NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory (in cooperation with DOE‘S SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (aura) under a cooperative agreement with NSF And it is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.
The scientific community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Ioligam Duag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, Maunakea in Hawaii, and Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachón in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very important cultural role and reverence of Maunakea for the Tohono O’odham Nation, Ioligam Duag (Kitt Peak) and the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) community.
SLAC The National Accelerator Laboratory explores how the universe works on the largest, smallest and fastest scales and invents powerful instruments used by researchers around the world. As world leaders in ultrafast science and bold explorers of the physics of the universe, we break new ground in understanding our origins and building a healthier and more sustainable future. Our Discovery and Innovation Help develop new materials and chemical processes and open unprecedented views of the most delicate machinery of the universe and life. Based on more than 60 years of visionary research, we help shape the future by advancing areas such as quantum technology, scientific computing and the development of next-generation accelerators. SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the US Department of Energy science office,
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Contact
anais moller
Senior Lecturer and ARC Dekra Fellow
Swinburne University of Technology
Email: (email protected)
bob blum
Director of Operations
Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NSF NOIRLab, +1 520-318-8233
Email: (email protected)
zeljko ivejic
Director of Rubin Construction/Professor of Astronomy
Aura/University of Washington
Phone: +1-206-403-6132
Email: (email protected)
josie fenske
Junior Public Information Officer
NSF NoirLab
Email: (email protected)
manuel ganida
Head of External Communications
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Phone: +1 650-926-2632 (office)
Cell: +1 415-308-7832 (cell)
Email: (email protected)
