On June 23, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile unveiled its first breathtaking images, captured by the world’s largest digital camera - a giant 3.2‑gigapixel imaging marvel attached to an 8.4‑metre telescope . In just ten hours of testing, the observatory imaged around 10 million galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, mapping stars, nebulas and galactic mergers in unprecedented detail.

Notably, astronomers detected over 2,100 previously unknown asteroids - seven of which are near‑Earth objects, none posing any threat . A remarkable close‑up of the Trifid Nebula, constructed from hundreds of exposures, showcased stunning pink and blue hues of emission and reflection nebulae .

The Rubin Observatory’s upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will repeatedly scan the southern sky every few nights over a decade - potentially cataloguing billions of objects, mapping dark matter and energy, and tracking transient cosmic events in near real‑time.

These early images mark the dawn of a transformative era in astronomy - offering both stunning visuals and rich data that will reshape our understanding of the universe.