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      • Rubin in Chile
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    • Funding Information
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      • Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST)
      • Rubin Technology
      • Alert Stream
      • Rubin Numbers
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    • Get Involved in Rubin Research
      • Activities, Games, and More
      • Space Surveyors Game
      • Make Your Own Rubin Voices Trading Card
      • Animated Video Series
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The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science will support Rubin Observatory in its operations phase to carry out the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. They will also provide support for scientific research with the data. During operations, NSF funding is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF, and DOE funding is managed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), under contract by DOE. Rubin Observatory is operated by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC.

NSF is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

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  1. Education
  2. Educators
  3. Investigations
  4. Exploding Stars
  5. Videos and Auxiliary Content

Exploding Stars

Start Investigation
Investigation total duration
2 hours

Videos and Auxiliary Content

Videos and Slides

These resources are from a teacher workshop on this investigation. They include a talk (15 minute video) from an expert in this astronomical topic and the accompanying talk visuals (speaker slides).

Video: Federica Bianco, "Explosions in our Data"

Speaker slides

Options for Extended Exploration

  1. Compare the distances obtained from Type Ia supernovae to the distance obtained from galaxy redshifts. Are they in close agreement? Do the values get more different from each other with increasing distances?
  2. Find a common set of galaxies in Rubin Observatory data that have both a Type Ia supernova and a Cepheid variable star, and calculate the distance to the galaxies using the two techniques. How much in agreement are the distances? Do the values get more different from each other with increasing distances? If so, which value do you think is more reliable?

Make Your Own Rubin Voices Trading Card

Use this activity:

  • To encourage students to imagine themselves in a STEAM career.
  • To Introduce the diversity of people and occupations involved in Observatory operations.
  • As a "get to know you" activity


Make Your Own Rubin Voices Trading Card

Back to Exploding Stars