How the UK is helping to capture the cosmos
Through LSST:UK, the UK is playing an important role in one of the most exciting efforts to understand our Universe to date.
Located on a mountaintop in Chile, the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory sits at 2,647 metres above sea level. This brand new astronomical facility is in the final stages of completion and will become operational during 2025.
Using the largest digital camera ever built, the Rubin Observatory will conduct a 10-year survey of the southern sky, known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). As a key collaborator, LSST:UK is helping to make this groundbreaking survey possible.
Under the umbrella of the LSST:UK Science Centre (LUSC), in institutions around the UK, our team is addressing a number of scientific and technical challenges. LSST:UK is funded by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC).
23 June 2025 - First images revealed!
This image combines 678 separate images taken by NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in just over seven hours of observing time. Combining many images in this way clearly reveals otherwise faint or invisible details, such as the clouds of gas and dust that comprise the Trifid nebula (top right) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light- years away from Earth. Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory