Vera Rubin Observatory - The largest map of the Universe

Located on Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes at over 2,600 meters above sea level, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is equipped with the largest and most powerful digital camera ever built for astronomy (3.2 billion pixels) and an 8.4-meter primary mirror. Its ten-year mission, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), aims to map the entire southern sky every three nights for ten consecutive years.

The result will be a true time-lapse "movie" of the cosmos, essential for unraveling the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, identifying potentially dangerous asteroids, and studying the evolution of galaxies and supernovae.

The event will feature a special appearance by Željko Ivezić, Director of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (and Scientific Director of the Rubin LSST - Legacy Survey of Space and Time), who will present the extraordinary initial results and future prospects of the ambitious scientific project underway in Chile. He will be joined by Gabriele Rodeghiero (INAF, responsible for commissioning the Rubin Observatory's secondary mirror) and Andreja Gomboc (responsible for LSST activities for the University of Nova Gorica), with Simone Zaggia (INAF) moderating.

The event involves researchers from three countries (Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia), and the presentations will be held in all three languages. Guests will be provided with earphones to listen to instant translation into their own language. It will therefore be a cross-border event, just as the sky we gaze at is cross-border, with speakers and audience members from all three nations.

This will be followed by a guided naked-eye observation of the sky.

  

credits: Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/P. Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava)

 

 FREE EVENT, NO RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

 

The event will take place outdoors in front of the Specola M. Hack Observatory. Seating is available until seats are filled, and then guests can lounge on the grass inside the grounds. ALÉ POGi - Street Fast Food Truck will be on hand with food and drinks.