Vera C. Rubin Observatory: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2025

By the end of the survey, the 320-megapixel camera will have recorded 20 billion galaxies and collected up to 60 petabytes of data, roughly three times what the Library of Congress currently stores. Compiling all these images together with the help of specialized algorithms and supercomputers will provide astronomers with a time-lapse view of the sky. Understanding how so many galaxies dispersed and formed will allow them to study the gravitational effects of dark matter. They also plan to create the most detailed three-dimensional map of the Milky Way ever created.

If all goes well, the telescope will take its first science-quality image in mid-2025 — a special moment known as “first light.” Soon after, the public could see the first photo posted by Rubin.