Powerful Vera Rubin Telescope Leading to New Space Discoveries
By Jingwei Zhao
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has outstanding potential for finding different objects or expanding our space knowledge. For example, the telescope is expected to detect asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth, or even a possible ninth planet. With the help of this telescope, researchers and scientists are eager to explore the boundaries of what else can be found in our solar system or space as a whole.
Meg Schwamb, planetary scientist at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, predicts, “I think that we’re going to completely transform our view of the solar system and rewrite that textbook over the next few years.”
The Rubin Observatory enables the detection of potentially destructive asteroids capable of damaging Earth that may have previously gone undetected. Although most asteroids lie in the asteroid belt, some of their paths are deflected and could possibly head toward our planet.
Astronomers are sure that no world-ending asteroids will cross paths with Earth, but they are not as confident about smaller asteroids. With an estimated 25,000 near-Earth asteroids, massive enough to obliterate cities, only 44 percent of them have been found, which concerns scientists.
Fortunately, according to University of Washington astronomy Professor Mario Juric, that percentage should reach 70 percent once Rubin’s decade-long survey concludes. Professor Juric is the leader of the team that oversees the telescope’s methods for detecting objects in the solar system.
Since most objects move relatively fast in the solar system, the telescope observes the sky within its range twice every night, with each observation occurring 20 minutes apart. In that short time period, stars stay in their position. Asteroids move slightly, indicating their direction and speed, so their position three days later is predictable. If it does not show up again, then it is not an asteroid.
This strategy was first used in early May, and it worked just as expected. Dr. Juric reports, “We found about 1,200 new asteroids. Just as a test.” Further analysis brought the tally to 2,104 newly discovered asteroids, with seven near Earth. Thankfully, none of them will come close to our planet.
Professor Juric describes the telescope as, “It sounds crude, but it’s that expression, shooting fish in a barrel. It feels almost unfair how good this telescope is.” With the staggering amount of new objects that Rubin spots, planetary scientists are given much more data and opportunities to understand asteroids. For example, by using the Rubin, scientists found that some asteroids could be temporarily active with tails made of debris from colliding with other objects.
Centaurs are small bodies found orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune, as well as beyond Neptune in the Kuiper belt; little is currently known about them. Since their origins and paths are unknown, scientists want to use the Rubin to help discover more of these space anomalies and understand them better. Dr. Schwamb said, “We’re really going to learn more about this population.”
Given our current understanding of the solar system and the telescope’s schedule, Dr. Schwamb predicts Rubin will find “89,000 new near-Earth asteroids, 3.7 million new main-belt asteroids, 1,200 new Centaurs and 32,000 new objects beyond Neptune.” However, what if the current understanding of our universe does change? Given the Rubins’ considerable power, it could also potentially detect a ninth planet or an alien spacecraft, if they exist. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s potential is enormous, and it will significantly contribute to the exploration of space.
