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What it is : The Rubin Auxiliary Telescope , the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and theMilky Way .

When it was taken : April 2022 and release Jan. 10 , 2024 .

A 360-degree panorama as a photosphere from Chile�s Cerro Pachón mountain, showing the Rubin Auxiliary Telescope and the Rubin Observatory.

A 360-degree panorama as a photosphere from Chile’s Cerro Pachón mountain, showing the Rubin Auxiliary Telescope and the Rubin Observatory.

Where it is : Cerro Pachón in northern Chile , 8,850 foot ( 2,700 meters ) above ocean story .

Why it ’s so particular : This image is a unique way to see some of the most exciting computer hardware in astronomy . in the first place a 360 - degree panoramic photo , this ikon demonstrate the aspect as a photosphere , making it look as if the peak of Cerro Pachón is its own little planet . The main attic is theRubin Auxiliary Telescope(AuxTel ) , with the stars of theMilky Wayappearing to spill from its scarlet - lit DoI . The " planet " is surrounded by fleeceable and violent illumination called airglow , which is the result of shadow particles and gasses in the atmosphere that are electrically charged , or ionized .

In the lower left hand of the prototype is theVera C. Rubin Observatory — a body structure that is on the cusp of changing astronomy forever . When it sees " first light " in August , it will begin conduct nightly view of the Southern Hemisphere ’s Nox sky using a wide - battlefield 27.6 - foot ( 8.4 measure ) Simonyi Survey Telescope ( SST ) and a 3,200 - megapixel photographic camera — the largest digital tv camera ever constructed . An imageshowing just the Rubin observatory against the Milky Wayis also available .

An image of the Milky Way captured by the MeerKAT radio telescope. At the center of the MeerKAT image the region surrounding the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole blazes bright. Huge vertical filamentary structures echo those captured on a smaller scale by Webb in Sagittarius C’s blue-green hydrogen cloud.

The observatory ’s decade - long survey , the Legacy Survey of Space and Time ( LSST ) , will scan the sky throughout the night , create 15 TB of information per Nox . It will , therefore , identify anything that run or brightens , such as asteroids and supernovas , but it ’s also hop LSST will discover 20 billion galaxies and stars . The paradigm — which is also bring out as apanorama , a360 - stage panoramaand afull dome — is the work ofPetr Horálek , an astrophotographer from the Czech Republic and a NOIRLab audiovisual embassador as part of theNOIRLab 2022 Photo Expedition .

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" Pachon has epic dark sky , and I felt I was literally within compass of the Universe … and also photograph something historically epic , " Horálek told Live Science in an electronic mail . " The Rubin Observatory will be the best sight telescope for many years ahead … so what a feeling capturing the new epical history of uranology . "

Horálek used a Canon Ra camera with a Sigma 35 mm lens to take a series of 10 - second gear exposures that he then stitched into a panorama .

A rendering of a massive telescope in the middle of the desert

a close-up image of a sunspot

A photo of a spiral galaxy

A photo of a large, white comet tail in space

an illustration of Mars

An image of a spiral galaxy

A two-paneled image. On the left, a deep sky image showing many stars. On the right, a zoomed-in version showing a cluster of stars.

A photograph taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which shows wave-like patterns inside a Mars crater.

An illustration of an asteroid passing by Earth

a closeup of a meteorite in the snow

Three-dimensional rendering of an HIV virus

three prepackaged sandwiches

Tunnel view of Yosemite National Park.

A scuba diver descends down a deep ocean reef wall into the abyss.

Remains of the Heroon, a small temple built for the burial cluster of Philip II at the Museum of the Royal Tombs inside the Great Tumulus of Aigai (Aegae)