The Milky Way Glows over Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile | NOIRLab

The Milky Way Glows over Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile | NOIRLab

Two icons share the stage in this image: the luminous band of the Milky Way galaxy and NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Rubin Observatory is jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science (DOE/SC). Rubin is a joint program of NSF NOIRLab and DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory that cooperatively operate Rubin.

This year, Rubin Observatory will begin the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). For ten years, Rubin will repeatedly image the entire sky of the Southern Hemisphere, creating a time-lapse record of our Universe—the ultimate movie of the cosmos.

During the LSST, Rubin will measure about 17 billion stars in our galaxy, using six filters. Studying the positions, motions, and colors of stars and other objects in the Milky Way will help scientists better understand how our galaxy formed and evolved. By extension, scientists will then better understand how other galaxies have evolved throughout the Universe’s history. The word “galaxy” stems from the Greek root word gala or galakt, meaning “milk.” This references the milky, opaque appearance of the Milky Way, whose dusty bands are quite prominent in this photo.

This image also captures the red and green hues of airglow, a very faint optical phenomenon caused by light emitted by Earth’s atmosphere. While the colors appear quite prominent in this image, airglow has little effect on the ability of Rubin or other telescopes to observe the night sky.

Hernán Stockebrand, the photographer, is a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.

Learn more about the new Vera Rubin Observatory:

https://noirlab.edu/science/programs/vera-c-rubin-observatory

The LSST Camera (LSSTCam)

https://lsstcam.lsst.io/

An Introduction to Vera Rubin:

https://rubinobservatory.org/about/vera-rubin

Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/H. Stockebrand
Date: April 22, 2026

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