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The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science will support Rubin Observatory in its operations phase to carry out the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. They will also provide support for scientific research with the data. During operations, NSF funding is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF, and DOE funding is managed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), under contract by DOE. Rubin Observatory is operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC.

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 transforms the future.

The DOE Office of Science is the single 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.

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    • Main Gallery

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    • A smattering of hundreds of galaxies of different shapes and sizes against a black background, Semi-opaque teal blobs surround and connect many of the galaxies, tracing the distribution of the countless wandering stars that make up the intracluster light. The ghostly teal glow is primarily concentrated in an irregular shape around the galaxies in the center of the image, but some larger individual galaxies off to the sides have their own separate glows.
      Enhanced image of Intracluster light in the Abell 85 galaxy cluster
    • A drone video flying counterclockwise around Rubin Observatory at sunset. The drone remains stationary until 15 seconds in, looking at Rubin's shining silver done and white service pointed away from us. Then the drone begins its slow counterclockwise journey, ending on the other side of the observatory from where it started. The skies are clear blue, and the desert mountain landscape has a golden hue from sunset, with the observatory and surrounding structures casting long shadows. The neighboring Gemini Observatory starts out visible to Rubin's left, moving to the right and out of view as the drone flies around Rubin.
      Sunset fly-around
    • Rubin Observatory in a golden sunset, with silver dome glinting in the setting sun's light. We see the observatory's long white service building and vertical silver dome such that the white service building appears pointed slightly to our left. To the left, the brilliantly setting sun glows bright orange, illuminating the landscape in a golden glow. The Chilean desert mountain ridges become more and more opaque as they recede into the distance, creating a layered look.
      Rubin at sunset
    • A white observatory building with a shiny silver dome sits on a rocky site under a dark late-twilight sky. A second small dome sits on a neighboring hill. The sky fills the top half of the image and is a uniform dark blue, with a hint of orange on the left horizon. Tiny pinpricks of stars are scattered in the sky. The brown, rocky desert landscape fills the bottom half of the image, darkened so that details are hard to pick out. A collection of shipping containers are lined up side by side in the lower right.
      Rubin Observatory at Twilight
    • An illustration of the path that light from distant galaxies might take through the cosmic web. The background is a dark blue with criss-crossing light blue filaments made of tiny dots, resembling wisps of smoke or strings of a cobweb. Three bright teal squiggly lines spider out toward the right from three small illustrated galaxies slightly left of center, representing a squiggly path that light might take. The squiggly lines end at a pair of illustrated galaxies, one teal and one white. The teal version shows the true shape and position of the galaxy as it would have been seen without weak gravitational lensing effects. The white version represents the galaxy’s observed shape and position, slightly elongated and offset compared to the teal.
      The effects of the Universe's large-scale structure on the light from distant galaxies
    • An illustration of galaxies scattered across the cosmic web. The background is a dark blue with criss-crossing light blue filaments made of tiny dots, resembling wisps of smoke or strings of a cobweb. There are about 15 galaxies scattered around the image. Each galaxy is actually a pair of illustrations offset from each other, showing two different shapes and positions for the same galaxy. The teal version of the galaxy is generally a circular or oval shape, representing its true shape and position before its light has traveled through the Universe. The white version of the galaxy is offset slightly in a direction and elongated or distorted compared to the teal.
      The effects of weak gravitational lensing by the Universe's large-scale structure
    • An illustrated video demonstrating the weak gravitational lensing effects of the Universe's large scale structure that distort the observed shapes and positions of distant galaxies. The video begins with a single white illustrated galaxy in the center as an elongated oval shape, representing the observation of a distant galaxy. The background is a dark blue with criss-crossing light blue filaments made of tiny dots, resembling wisps of smoke or strings of a cobweb. The camera perspective rotates to the left, conveying a sense of 3D. The web-like background fades, and another smaller illustrated galaxy shape appears to the left, representing the origin of the distant galaxy's light. This distant galaxy wobbles and wiggles toward the final observed galaxy on the right, representing how light from that galaxy traveled through space and ending at that single white galaxy from the beginning of the video. The camera rotates back to the original perspective, and a circular teal version of the observed galaxy appears offset from the oval white version, representing the true shape and position of the galaxy if its light had not been bent by weak gravitational lensing. Finally, a dozen additional white and teal galaxy pairs appear all around the image. The white version of each galaxy is offset slightly and elongated or distorted compared to the teal version.
      The effects of weak gravitational lensing by the Universe's large-scale structure on the observed shapes and positions of galaxies.
    • A white observatory building with a shiny silver dome sits on a rocky site under a late-twilight sky. A second small dome sits on a neighboring hill. The sky fills the top half of the image and is a vibrant dark blue, transitioning to yellow on the left horizon. Tiny pinpricks of stars are scattered in the sky. Wispy clouds run in horizontal streaks across the sky from the left, the direction of the ocean. The clouds closest to the left horizon are lit from below by the recently set sun, so that the bottoms are a vibrant orange while the tops are an unlit gray. The brown, rocky desert landscape fills the bottom half of the image, darkened such that details are hard to pick out.
      Rubin at Twilight
    • A white observatory building with a shiny silver dome sits on a rocky site under a dark late-twilight sky. A second small dome sits on a neighboring hill. The sky fills the top half of the image, and transitions from dark blue in the upper right to yellow on the left horizon. The brown, rocky desert landscape fills the bottom half of the image, darkened such that details are hard to pick out.
      Rubin at Twilight
    • A white observatory building with a shiny silver dome sits on a rocky site under a pink and purple dawn sky. A second small dome sits on a neighboring hill. The sky fills the top half of the image, with pink fading into purple from right to left. The brown, rocky desert landscape fills the bottom half of the image, darkened so that details are hard to pick out. A collection of shipping containers are lined up side by side in the lower right.
      Rubin at Twilight
    • Rubin Observatory on top of its summit site on Cerro Pachón against a sunset scene. The observatory building is an angular silver dome on top of a long building extending to the left. The observatory, a tall crane, and the foreground hill they sit on are silhouetted against a yellow and orange sky, with rolling mountain ridges in varying shades of purple and blue fading into the background. The sun isn't quite set yet, peeking half above the horizon directly to the right of the observatory.
      Rubin Observatory at Sunset
    • A white observatory building with shiny silver dome sits on a rocky site under a blue twilight sky. A second small dome sits on a neighboring hill. The sky fills the top half of the image, and is a fairly uniform blue color with a hint of pink on the left horizon. Tiny pinpricks of stars are scattered in the sky, with a single large point, the planet Venus, directly over the observatory. The brown, rocky desert landscape fills the bottom half of the image. A collection of shipping containers are lined up side by side in the lower right.
      Rubin Observatory beneath Venus
    • Rubin's commissioning camera sitting on a yellow flatbed transport cart in a large open room on the maintenance floor of the observatory. The camera itself is a long cylindrical structure laying horizontally on the cart. The left third is teal and generally larger in diameter than the right two-thirds, which is black and mostly hollow.
      ComCam on Cart
    • The white donut-shaped structure of Rubin's secondary mirror stand-in "surrogate" mass hangs suspended from a hook against the myriad of teal steel beams supporting the observatory dome. The main telescope structure is tilted on its side, such that the teal steel ring that's normally horizontal at the top cuts vertically through the left of the image. A person in a hard hat and orange safety vest supervises the activities from a raised crane basket on the right.
      Secondary Mirror Surrogate Removal
    • A view looking up from below the white donut-shaped structure of Rubin's secondary mirror stand-in "surrogate" mass, which is suspended from a crane hook near the dome ceiling. A large black circular steel structure beneath the white donut structure extends out of view to both sides. The many teal steel beams supporting the observatory dome criss-cross in the background.
      Secondary Mirror Surrogate Removal
    • Timelapse video of several Rubin Observatory summit team members in orange safety vest and hard hats removing the commissioning camera from the telescope. The meters-long camera is mounted at the top of the huge telescope structure, so to remove it, the whole system is tilted 90 degrees to the side. A large crane attaches to and supports the long, black, cylindrical camera as it's removed from the steel supports and placed on the floor.
      ComCam Removal
    • A couple hundred people wearing bright green shirts look up to the camera on a balcony above them as a group for a photo. In a row on the bottom are 11 photos of virtual participants in Rubin's 2023 workshop
      Rubin 2023 Group Photo
    • An illustration of the solar system showing the paths of the two confirmed interstellar objects. The solar system spans most of the image and has two distinct regions. The outer Kuiper Belt region is a large, fuzzy donut of thousands of icy asteroids and comets spanning half of the total radius of the full solar system illustration. The inner region contains the orbits of the eight planets, drawn as white concentric circles viewed from a slightly elevated angle so they appear as ovals. The path of the first interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua, is a red V-shape that opens to the top right, with its closest point to the Sun inside Mercury’s orbit. The path of the second interstellar object, Borisov, is a teal U-shape that opens to the top right, wider than 'Oumuamua's V, with its closest point to the Sun outside Mars’s orbit.
      Confirmed Interstellar Object Paths
    • An animated illustration of the solar system showing the paths of the two confirmed interstellar objects. The solar system spans most of the image and has two distinct regions. The outer Kuiper Belt region is a large, fuzzy donut of thousands of icy asteroids and comets spanning half of the total radius of the full solar system illustration. The inner region contains the orbits of the eight planets, drawn as white concentric circles viewed from a slightly elevated angle so they appear as ovals. The path of the first interstellar object, ‘Oumuamua, is a red V-shape that opens to the top right, with its closest point to the Sun inside Mercury’s orbit. The path of the second interstellar object, Borisov, is a teal U-shape that opens to the top right, wider than 'Oumuamua's V, with its closest point to the Sun outside Mars’s orbit. After a few seconds, the view rotates counterclockwise to demonstrate the Solar System's 3D nature. At 15 seconds, the view rotates back clockwise. At 27 seconds, the view tilts away from us and zooms out.
      Confirmed Interstellar Object Paths Video
    • Rubin Observatory on the left and its neighboring Auxiliary Telescope to the right sit under a crisp blue sky in a brown desert landscape dotted with remnant snow. A dirt road extends from the foreground toward the small dome of the Auxiliary Telescope atop a small hill.
      Winter 2023
    • An artist’s impression of a small, rocky interstellar object hurtling from the upper right toward the inner Solar System. The orbits of the four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars) are fully visible, drawn as teal concentric circles around the bright ball of the Sun at the center. We see the orbits from a slightly elevated angle, so that the circular paths appear oval. The black background is sprinkled with points of starlight. The interstellar object looks like an elongated potato above the Sun, streaming toward the Sun from the upper right, with a short tail of gas and dust trailing behind.
      Interstellar object rapidly approaching our Solar System
    • Stars appear to rain down upon Rubin Observatory and the surrounding Chilean landscape in this night sky timelapse above Cerro Pachón. The long service building and tall silver dome of the observatory feature prominently on the right, and the distant city lights of La Serena shine in the lower left just behind a desert mountain ridge.
      Evening on Cerro Pachón
    • Rubin Observatory atop its rocky summit under a sky of star trails. The observatory building resembles a foot and ankle shape, with a white main building and silver dome sticking up. The night sky is filled with curved streaks. The streaks are stars that have moved across the sky while the camera shutter was open. The focal point of the curved star trails is out of view to the upper left.
      Star Trails over Rubin
    • Rubin's massive telescope support structure dominates the scene beneath the open observatory dome slit showing blue sky above. The support structure is made of teal steel, and is viewed from the side. The bottom third of the support structure is the primary mirror cell, a large teal steel block with a black circular disk on top. Above the mirror cell, the middle third of the support structure is a thick teal steel ring, which primarily supports the top third. The top third is made of angled steel beams that support two hollow, thin teal steel rings at the top. The rings will hold the secondary mirror and giant digital camera. Surrounding the telescope support structure are the criss-crossing steel beams of the dome's interior.
      Rubin Telescope Mount
    • Rubin's massive telescope support structure dominates the scene beneath the open observatory dome slit showing blue sky above. The support structure is made of teal steel, and is viewed from the side. The bottom third of the support structure is the primary mirror cell, a large teal steel block with a black circular disk on top. Above the mirror cell, the middle third of the support structure is a thick teal steel ring, which primarily supports the top third. The top third is made of angled steel beams that support two hollow, thin teal steel rings at the top. The rings will hold the secondary mirror and giant digital camera. Surrounding the telescope support structure are the criss-crossing steel beams of the dome's interior.
      Rubin Telescope Mount
    • The Milky Way stretches vertically over the Chilean desert mountains. The Milky Way dominates the center of this image as a vertical feature of denser stars with dark dust clouds and tendrils woven throughout. The night sky itself has a grayish brown hue with tiny points of starlight sprinkled throughout. An effect called airglow, caused by sunlight interacting with the upper atmosphere, causes the sky to take on a greenish hue closer to the horizon. At the bottom of the image, a closer mountain ridge has a strong brown color, while the distant distant appear slightly bluer due to the atmosphere between.
      Milky Way over Pachón
    • Rubin's massive telescope support structure dominates the scene beneath the open observatory dome slit showing blue sky above. The support structure is made of teal steel. The bottom third of the support structure is the primary mirror cell, a large teal steel block with a black circular disk on top. Above the mirror cell, the middle third of the support structure is a thick teal steel ring, which primarily supports the top third. The top third is made of angled steel beams that support two hollow, thin teal steel rings at the top. The rings will hold the secondary mirror and giant digital camera. Surrounding the telescope support structure are the criss-crossing steel beams of the dome's interior.
      Rubin Telescope Mount
    • The Milky Way and night sky above Rubin Observatory's Auxiliary Telescope. The auxiliary telescope is at the lower left, and the night sky is sprinkled with stars. The denser area of the Milky Way extends upward on the right, bulging wider toward the top. Dark tendrils of dust clouds weave through the bulge.
      Milky Way over Auxiliary Telescope
    • A white observatory building with shiny silver dome sits on a rocky site under a darkening, late-twilight sky. A second small dome sits on a neighboring hill. The sky fills the top half of the image, and fades from dark blue on the right toward purple on the left, with a hint of yellow on the left horizon. Tiny pinpricks of stars are scattered in the sky, with a single large point, the planet Venus, directly over the observatory. The brown, rocky desert landscape fills the bottom half of the image, and is dark enough that some details are hard to pick out. A collection of shipping containers are lined up side by side in the lower right.
      Rubin Observatory
    • A white observatory building with shiny silver dome sits on a rocky site under a dark late-twilight sky. A second small dome sits on a neighboring hill. The sky fills the top half of the image, and fades from dark blue on the right to purple on the left, with a hint of yellow on the left horizon. Tiny pinpricks of stars are scattered in the sky, with a single large point, the planet Venus, to the upper left of the observatory. The brown, rocky desert landscape fills the bottom half of the image, darkened so that details are hard to pick out. A collection of shipping containers are lined up side by side in the lower right.
      Rubin Observatory and Venus at sunset
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