Stunning celestial images out

Agencies Chilean Andes

A powerful new telescope in Chile has released its first images, showing off its unprecedented ability to peer into the dark depths of the universe, according to a BBC report. In one picture, vast colourful gas and dust clouds swirl in a star-forming region 9,000 light years from Earth. 

The Vera C Rubin observatory, home to the world's most powerful digital camera, promises to transform our understanding of the universe. If a ninth planet exists in our solar system, scientists say this telescope would find it in its first year. It should detect killer asteroids in striking distance of Earth and map the Milky Way. It will also answer crucial questions about dark matter.

This once-in-a-generation moment for astronomy is the start of a continuous 10-year filming of the southern night sky. "I have been working towards this point for about 25 years. For decades we wanted to build this phenomenal facility and to do this type of survey," says Professor Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland.

Vera Rubin could increase the number of known objects in our solar system tenfold. The Vera Rubin observatory sits on Cerro Pachón, a mountain in the Chilean Andes that hosts several observatories. Very high, very dry, and very dark. It is a perfect location to watch the stars.