This Telescope Could Find "Planet 9"
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What is the main focus of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory?
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How does the telescope differ from traditional telescopes?
You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. Hey Shore Wavers, Regina Barber here, and today we're going to talk about a powerful, highly unusual telescope that's just now starting up. Most telescopes are designed to point at a particular object in the sky, maybe a certain galaxy or planet or star, so that astronomers can study it in detail. Then it moves on to the next galaxy or another star, and it does it all over again.
So that's not what this telescope is doing, right? Okay, this is a survey telescope. It means it's almost scanning the entire sky. Hey, Nell. Hey.
What groundbreaking technology does the observatory use?
That's NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfield-Boyce, everyone. She's here to tell us about the awesome power of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
So this thing is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, along with other sources. And it's on a mountaintop in Chile where scientists are currently fine tuning its instruments, which are all finally installed. And this is basically an enormous telescope equipped with the world's biggest digital camera. It's the size of a car. It is enormous. And this camera will be taking images of almost the whole southern sky. And it's going to do this continuously for like 10 years. So that means every few nights, it's going to cover the whole southern sky... taking in everything.
That's so many images. So like you could basically make like a movie out of this, like the entire night sky, like how it changes over time, which is new.
It is truly unprecedented. I was talking with Bob Blum. He's director of operations for the observatory.
Sometime through the first year of this 10-year survey, we'll have already observed more things than astronomers have ever observed before.
How will the observatory help in the search for Planet 9?
He means ever as in like ever through all of history.
Wow. I mean, that really boggles my mind. It's like really an astonishing amount of data.
It truly is. It truly is. And part of what makes this observatory special is the way it's going to analyze all this data in real time. So basically, it compares images with each other, you know, the newest images with the images it took before. to detect anything that brightens or moves or changes. So that means it can catch anything that goes bump in the night that astronomers couldn't see before because they weren't just looking in the right spot.
Including possibly another large planet in our solar system, right? Because my understanding is that this observatory is the best chance of finding the elusive so-called Planet 9. Right.
You know it. So it is looking like the moment of truth for this much ballyhooed possible planet, if it's even there.
What was the inspiration behind building the Rubin Observatory?
So today on the show, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. What happens when big data comes to astronomy and why its telescope has the best chance of finding another planet in our solar system. Plus, what else this radical observatory might see. You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
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All right, now, the Rubin Observatory has been in the works for decades. Like, tell me how this idea came about.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main focus of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory?
0:01–0:24
2
How does the telescope differ from traditional telescopes?
0:24–0:59
3
What groundbreaking technology does the observatory use?
0:59–2:08
4
How will the observatory help in the search for Planet 9?
2:08–3:07
5
What was the inspiration behind building the Rubin Observatory?
3:07–4:48
6
What challenges were faced in the telescope's development?
4:48–7:01
7
What is the significance of the name change from Dark Matter Telescope?
7:01–7:52
8
What does 'synoptic' mean in the context of astronomy?
7:52–14:38
Speakers
8 identifiedMore from Short Wave
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