Science Goals
How did the Milky way form? What is 95% of the Universe made of? What will a full inventory of Solar System objects reveal? What will we learn from watching millions of changes in the night sky over 10 years? These are just a few of the questions scientists will address with Rubin Observatory.
Rubin's 10-year movie of the cosmos will bring the night sky to life, yielding a treasure trove of discoveries. Scientists will make countless discoveries using Rubin Observatory data — some will advance science in ways we can’t predict yet! But Rubin Observatory was specifically designed to help answer questions in four main science areas:
- Understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy
- Creating an inventory of the Solar System
- Mapping the Milky Way
- Exploring objects that change position or brightness over time
Many details about the telescope like its size, speed, and camera sensitivity were developed to maximize scientific discovery in these four science areas.
Explore Rubin's key science areas
Every time we look at the Universe in a new way, we make discoveries we never could have predicted.
And now we will see more than we ever have before.