Different observatories, just like the Hubble Area Telescope and the James Webb Area Telescope, have already begun stitching collectively this map from their pictures of galaxies. However Rubin plans to take action with distinctive precision and scale, analyzing the shapes of billions of galaxies reasonably than the a whole lot of tens of millions that present telescopes observe, in response to Andrés Alejandro Plazas Malagón, Rubin operations scientist at SLAC Nationwide Laboratory. “We’re going to have the widest galaxy survey to this point,” Plazas Malagón says.
Capturing the cosmos in such excessive definition requires Rubin’s 3.2-billion-pixel Massive Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST boasts the biggest focal airplane ever constructed for astronomy, granting it entry to massive patches of the sky.
The telescope can be designed to reorient its gaze each 34 seconds, which means astronomers will be capable to scan all the sky each three nights. The LSST will revisit every galaxy about 800 occasions all through its tenure, says Steven Ritz, a Rubin undertaking scientist on the College of California, Santa Cruz. The repeat exposures will let Rubin staff members extra exactly measure how the galaxies are distorted, refining their map of darkish matter’s internet. “We’re going to see these galaxies deeply and continuously,” Ritz says. “That’s the ability of Rubin: the sheer grasp of with the ability to see the universe intimately and on repeat.”
The final word purpose is to overlay this map on totally different fashions of darkish matter and look at the outcomes. The main thought, the chilly darkish matter mannequin, means that darkish matter strikes slowly in comparison with the pace of sunshine and interacts with extraordinary matter solely via gravity. Different fashions recommend totally different habits. Every comes with its personal image of how darkish matter ought to clump in halos surrounding galaxies. By plotting its chart of darkish matter towards what these fashions predict, Rubin would possibly exclude some theories and favor others.
A cosmic tug of battle
If darkish matter lies on one facet of a magnet, pulling matter collectively, you then’ll flip it over to seek out darkish power, pushing it aside. “You may consider it as a cosmic tug of battle,” Plazas Malagón says.
Darkish power was found within the late Nineteen Nineties, when astronomers discovered that the universe was not solely increasing, however doing so at an accelerating fee, with galaxies transferring away from each other at larger and better speeds.
