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A Telescope Collaboration Between Astrophysicists Offers an Unprecedented Opportunity for Discovery
One of the first images captured by the NSF-DOE funded Vera C. Rubin Observatory has been dubbed by scientists the "Cosmic Treasure Chest." The image includes about 10 million galaxies, roughly .05% of the approximately 20 billion galaxies Rubin Observatory will capture over the next decade.
Billions of galaxies and insights into dark energy and dark matter may be uncovered, according to scientists from Rutgers and other universities
Astrophysicists from Rutgers are teaming up with colleagues from two other research universities to make discoveries on a new, radically powerful telescope that may reveal the secrets of dark matter, dark energy and other cosmological enigmas.
The announcement of a new collaboration among researchers from the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences and those at Columbia University in New York and the City University of New York (CUNY) was timed to coincide with the opening of a telescope at the United States-sponsored Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile on June 23. The collaboration will be part of a larger scientific alliance.
“I am so enthusiastic about this partnership between Columbia, CUNY and Rutgers – all three institutions have outstanding researchers and students,” said Eric Gawiser, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a lead researcher on the project. “All three are member institutions of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time – or LSST – Discovery Alliance, an international consortium of astronomical institutions dedicated to getting the most out of LSST science.”
As members of the larger alliance with its 40 member institutions, scientists and administrators from the three universities reasoned that they could take advantage of their geographical proximity to analyze the vast amount of data expected to be collected. Rutgers has been part of the alliance for many years.
“The Rubin Observatory opens up extraordinary research opportunities for our faculty and for undergraduate and graduate students — particularly at the intersection of astrophysics, data science and machine learning,” said School of Arts and Science’s Vice Dean of Administration Bob Maruca. “This collaboration will allow us to observe and study regions of the universe never before explored, and to work with an unprecedented volume and richness of data.”
Maruca characterized the collaboration as a “great example” of cross-institutional partnership. “It’s a model we should look to replicate in other fields as well,” he said.
The 10-year survey is the primary mission of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop at the edge of Chile’s Atacama Desert, where the wide-range telescope is housed. The location is ideal for telescopes because of its exceptionally clear and dry skies, high altitude and lack of light pollution.
The late American astronomer Vera Rubin found the first convincing evidence of dark matter in the 1970s. Along with dark energy, dark matter is believed to constitute most of the universe. Astronomers cannot directly observe either but infer their existence and properties from the light that they can see, using powerful telescopes.
The telescope contains the largest digital camera ever made and is notable for the cutting-edge design of its mirror, its speed and its computer infrastructure.
The survey, the telescope and the observatory are funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.
While the scientific questions that the Rubin Observatory will address are profound, the concept behind the telescope’s design is simple. The telescope will allow scientists to conduct a deep survey over an enormous area of sky and do it with a frequency that enables images of every part of the visible sky to be obtained every few nights. They will continue in this mode for 10 years to produce astronomical catalogs thousands of times larger than have previously been compiled.
“Telescopes are time machines,” said Saurabh Jha, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a leader of the effort who is on the hunt for dark energy via observations of exploding stars known as Type Ia Supernovae. “Rubin Observatory will allow us to see what the universe was like in the past, and not just as a picture. Rubin will give us an unprecedented movie of the past universe, letting us watch stars exploding and black holes feeding, along with many other amazing, dynamic phenomena across the sky.”
Rutgers faculty members and graduate students met with their collaborators last week at Columbia University’s Havemeyer Hall to kick off the partnership. They also timed the meeting to participate in a virtual watch party celebration of “first look” images collected by the Rubin telescope.
The disclosing of images taken by the telescope during a news conference was streamed from Washington, D.C. to New York and beamed to several hundred similar events held simultaneously at sites throughout the U.S. The New York event was co-sponsored by Rutgers, Columbia, CUNY and Schmidt Sciences, a philanthropic organization.
More than 100 faculty, students and members of the public gathered for the event. In addition to Gawiser and Jha, Rutgers faculty and administrators in attendance included Physics and Astronomy chair Jack Hughes and Dean Maruca.
Audience members oohed with delight at dazzling astronomical images that unfolded before them – including a video of pink swirls of stellar nurseries known as the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulas and a photo of a vast black velvety sky littered with diamond-like specks representing 10 million galaxies. The photo has been dubbed the “Cosmic Treasure Chest” by the Rubin team.
The spectacle even impressed Hughes, a seasoned astronomer who will study clusters of galaxies by combining data from Rubin-LSST and the Simons Observatory, which will host a new ground-based telescope, also in the Atacama Desert that will study the oldest light in the universe. Hughes was moved to contemplate the behind-the-scenes efforts that led to the moment.
“The beautiful first-light images from the Rubin Observatory made me reflect on the dedication and skills of the many scientists, engineers, programmers, technicians and others who worked for years making this magnificent telescope, camera and data handling system a reality,” Hughes said. “Astronomy has entered a new era with an immense volume of new data every day that will lead to anticipated findings as well as amazing new unexpected discoveries.”
The effort goes far deeper than merely offering beautiful images, said Professor Charles Keeton, the vice provost for experiential learning and a long-time member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
“Rubin Observatory will produce immense amounts of new data,” said Keeton, who will use the telescope to study an effect known as gravitational lensing believed to be caused by dark matter bending light. “Astronomers have spent a long time developing new analysis methods and are excited to start using them. With its incredible data, the observatory will transform our understanding of the cosmos as a fitting tribute to the pioneering astronomer Vera Rubin.”
Made from more than 678 exposures taken by NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in just over seven hours of observing time, this video explores details in the region containing the Trifid nebula (top) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light-years away from Earth. Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
Other Rutgers faculty members in the Department of Physics and Astronomy who are involved in the collaboration include: Associate Professor Alyson Brooks, who is probing dark matter properties through the shapes of galaxies and their satellites; and Professor David Shih and Associate Professor Matthew Buckley, who will use the telescope to map out streams of stars in the Milky Way and look for telltale signs of dark matter.
During the morning remarks, astronomers were invited to wear alien headbands to indicate they were trained astronomers and that visitors could ask them anything. In the afternoon, after a reception, researchers from each of the hosting institutions spoke in more detail on how they plan to use the data.
“Viewing these gorgeous first images from Rubin Observatory is exciting, but the real joy of discovery starts now as we begin using them to find billions of new galaxies,” said Gawiser, who plans to analyze galaxies detected by the telescope to better understand the large-scale behavior of the universe, as well as how the Milky Way formed and grew. “The unprecedented amount of data makes it like panning for gold under Niagara Falls. The first few months of Rubin's Legacy Survey of Space and Time will change how we understand the universe around us.”
This story was adapted in part from a release by Columbia University
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