The Amazing Vera Rubin Observatory and Its Movie of the Sky

Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures

A Nontechnical talk by Dr. Steven Kahn (University of California, Berkeley)

Oct. 8, 2025

The amazing Vera Rubin Observatory is a unique astronomy facility just built in Chile, with the largest digital camera in the world, designed to provide a time-lapse “movie” of the entire sky from the Earth’s southern hemisphere. Over its planned ten years of operation, the Rubin Observatory will obtain nearly 1,000 images of every part of that sky. By comparing the various images, we will be able to detect everything that varies in brightness and everything that moves across the sky. By adding together all of the images, we will be able to catalog nearly 20 billion galaxies and a comparable number of stars. After 20 years of development, this facility has just come on-line and will soon begin its nightly operations. Prof. Kahn, who was Director of the Observatory during its construction phase, reviews the design, development, and construction of Rubin, and describes the exciting science that lies ahead.