NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory

@VRubinObs

Rubin will #CaptureTheCosmos in exquisite detail starting in 2026 🌌 Funded by @NSF and @DOEScience. Para español: instagram.com/rubin_observat…

Cerro Pachon, Chile rubinobservatory.org Joined August 2008

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NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory @VRubinObs Oct 27

Meet our Solar System's newest dwarf planet candidate: 2026 ED138!

Orbiting past Pluto, scientists found it in NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory data from earlier in 2026. Early analysis suggests it's 600–1500 km across, one of the largest found past Neptune!

🔗 rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-fir…

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NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory @VRubinObs 1d

POV: You're NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's telescope, and this is your view👀✨

As the dome opens, the camera readies, and the telescope turns toward the night sky, billions of stars and galaxies come into view.

Quite a view to wake up to every night, if we might say so! 🌌

Milky Way and starry sky seen through the open shutter of a telescope dome, with the dark interior framing the view.

NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory @VRubinObs 2d

Cerro Pachón, tiny planet edition ✨🌎

NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory sits high in the Chilean mountains, beneath wide-open skies and some pretty spectacular views.

This 360° perspective gives the mountaintop a whole new look. Not a bad place to call home, if you ask us💙

Tiny-planet night panorama of an observatory under the Milky Way, with dense stars, glowing nebulae, and a faint green airglow.

NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory @VRubinObs 3d

A little perspective from the top of our world🏔️

This view in this NSF @NOIRLabAstro #ImageOfTheWeek looks from the top of NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory's dome.

In addition to great views, Chile also has incredible infrastructure for supporting astronomy & astrophysics research🌎

View from a corrugated metal roof over dry, rugged mountains and winding roads beneath a clear blue sky.

NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory @VRubinObs Oct 31

Happy Halloween and #DarkMatterDay!👻

Dark matter is the perfect cosmic mystery: it's invisible…and can pass right through you 👻

While we can't see it directly and we don't know what it's made of, its gravity affects how light bends & how structures across the Universe form.

Deep-space image filled with colorful galaxies; a dense orange galaxy cluster glows near the center against a black starry background. A blue ribbon-like galaxy weaves around the lower left edge of the cluster, stretched and warped by its gravity.