世界最大のデジタルカメラ搭載 ベラ・ルービン天文台、画像初公開

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】チリのベラ・ルービン天文台の科学者チームは２３日、同望遠鏡で観測された初の画像を公開した。星形成領域や遠方の銀河を捉えた、息をのむような光景が写し出されている。（写真は、ベラ・ルービン天文台の科学者チームが公開した、７時間で撮影された６７８枚の写真を合成した宇宙の画像）
　完成までに２０年以上を要したベラ・ルービン天文台は、チリ中部セロ・パチョンの山頂に設置された。空が暗く乾燥した気候が、宇宙観測に理想的な条件を提供する。
　最初に公開された画像の一つは、わずか７時間で撮影された６７８枚の写真を合成したもので、地球から数千光年離れた三裂星雲と干潟星雲が、オレンジがかった赤の背景に対し、鮮やかなピンク色で輝いている。
　この画像では、銀河系内にあるこれらの星形成領域が、これまでにない詳細で明らかにされており、これまでかすかだったり、見えなかった構造もはっきり捉えられている。
　口径８．４メートルの望遠鏡と、これまでに製造された中で最大の専用デジタルカメラを備えたベラ・ルービン天文台は、強力なデータ処理システムによって支えられている。
　ルービン天文台は、わずか１０時間の観測で、太陽系内の未発見の小惑星を２１０４個発見。その中には地球近傍天体が７個含まれていたが、いずれも地球に脅威を及ぼすものではないことが確認されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2025/06/23-18:46）

The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile published their first images on Monday, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies.
More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos.
One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula -- both several thousand light-years from Earth -- glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops.
The image reveals these stellar nurseries within our Milky Way in unprecedented detail, with previously faint or invisible features now clearly visible.
Another image offers a sweeping view of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies.
The team also released a video dubbed the cosmic treasure chest, which begins with a close-up of two galaxies before zooming out to reveal approximately 10 million more.
The Rubin Observatory is an investment in our future, which will lay down a cornerstone of knowledge today on which our children will proudly build tomorrow, said Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Equipped with an advanced 8.4-meter telescope and the largest digital camera ever built, the Rubin Observatory is supported by a powerful data-processing system.
Later this year, it will begin its flagship project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Over the next decade, it will scan the night sky nightly, capturing even the subtlest visible changes with unmatched precision.
The observatory is named after pioneering American astronomer Vera C. Rubin, whose research provided the first conclusive evidence for the existence of dark matter -- a mysterious substance that does not emit light but exerts gravitational influence on galaxies.
Dark energy refers to the equally mysterious and immensely powerful force believed to be driving the accelerating expansion of the universe. Together, dark matter and dark energy are thought to make up 95 percent of the cosmos, yet their true nature remains unknown.
The observatory, a joint initiative of the US National Science Foundation and Department of Energy, has also been hailed as one of the most powerful tools ever built for tracking asteroids.
In just 10 hours of observations, the Rubin Observatory discovered 2,104 previously undetected asteroids in our solar system, including seven near-Earth objects -- all of which pose no threat.
For comparison, all other ground- and space-based observatories combined discover about 20,000 new asteroids per year.
Rubin is also set to be the most effective observatory at spotting interstellar objects passing through the solar system.
More images from the observatory are expected to be released later Monday morning.