2025 delivered some of the biggest moments yet for NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, bringing us closer to the start of the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time!
We kicked off 2025 in style!
First up: The very first image ever released from NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory, captured by Rubin's Commissioning Camera in late 2024 and released to the world January 2025.
ComCam was used for testing before the 3200-megapixel LSST Camera was installed. It might capture a much smaller area of sky in comparison, but seeing that first image was a huge moment. It proved the whole Rubin system—telescope, camera, software—was working together!
A new year, a nearly-complete observatory, and our first official look at the sky from Rubin. The countdown to LSSTCam installation was officially on.
In March 2025, after years of design, assembly, testing, a careful voyage from California to Chile, and yet more testing...Rubin's 3200-megapixel LSST Camera was finally mounted into position on the telescope!
LSST Camera is the largest digital camera ever built, coming in at the size of a small SUV and weighing over 6000 pounds (3 tons). It can capture an area of sky the size of 45 full moons in a single shot. Needless to say, installation day was not a standard day at the observatory.
Getting it mounted, aligned, and integrated with the telescope was like placing the last puzzle piece into a decade-long engineering masterpiece. Rubin officially had its eyes, and it was nearly time to open them.
On April 15, the Rubin team pointed the newly-installed LSST Camera at the night sky for the first time. Hundreds of staff, in-person and online, watched together as the very first pixels from a complete Rubin Observatory appeared on screen!
These first images marked the start of on-sky commissioning with the LSST Camera: the months-long phase to focus, tune, adjust, test, fix, and repeat until every mirror, sensor, and motion control system performs reliably to standards required for Rubin's 10-year survey. This process prepares Rubin to capture hundreds of images and detect millions of changes every night for the next decade.
Once the camera proved it could see the sky? It was almost time to show the world what Rubin could do.
On June 23, Rubin unveiled its First Look images to the world. These large, amazingly detailed images showed exactly why the decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time will revolutionize the way we understand the Universe.
In addition to revealing incredible detail in both the Virgo Cluster of galaxies and the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae, First Look also showed Rubin's ability to detect objects that move or change. In just 10 hours of observing across seven nights, Rubin revealed over 2000 brand new asteroids in our Solar System and measured 46 pulsating variable stars in our Milky Way!
First Look wasn't just pretty images (though they were definitely pretty!) It was also proof that Rubin’s systems were working together to produce the kind of data the science community has been waiting for!
Relive Rubin First Look: rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look
Download the First Look images: rubinobservatory.org/gallery/collections/first-look-gallery
Explore in Skyviewer: skyviewer.app
In the second half of 2025, scientists (and you!) got access to some early Rubin Observatory data!
This year, Rubin:
— Released the first commissioning data to scientists, captured in late 2024 using a 144-megapixel test camera—an exciting preview of science to come!
— Took early observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS during pre-survey testing.
— Introduced two citizen projects with the Zooniverse — that YOU can participate in at zooniverse.org/rubin!
— Began final testing of the software that will process and distribute up to ~10 million nightly alerts, in collaboration with "brokers" around the world who will classify them.
These early datasets have let scientists get familiar with real Rubin data before the decade-long deluge begins in early 2026.
