– Rider University
Rider University is part of a recently launched global coalition supporting a 10-year mission to produce the most complete map of the universe ever, known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). As part of the LSST Discovery Alliance, Rider joins about 30 other institutions committed to helping the project reach its potential.
The project involves the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile taking hundreds of images of the Southern Hemisphere sky every night for 10 years. In June, the observatory released detailed images of galaxies, nebulas and thousands of previously undiscovered asteroids.
Dr. John Bochanski, an associate professor and chair of Rider’s Department of Computer Science and Physics, has been connected to the long-gestating project since he was a graduate student at the University of Washington more than 15 years ago.
“Now that Rubin is functional and working well, it’s a very exciting time,” he said. “There is certainly Nobel Prize-winning potential for this project, which was designed to go after the biggest questions in physics.”
With the world’s largest digital camera (similar in size to a Mini Cooper, with a resolution of 3.2 billion pixels), the observatory will ultimately create an ultra-high-definition time-lapse record of the universe. The images it captures will create a vast treasure trove of data for scientists to study.
Scientists hope the Rubin Observatory will explain the nature of dark energy, a force pushing the universe apart, and dark matter, a theorized form of matter that would show how galaxies hold together, as well as assist in the search for a potential ninth planet in our solar system.
“There are signs that there might be another planet out there, and if it is, Rubin should be able to see it,” said Bochanski. “That would change how we place ourselves in a galactic context.”
When it comes to searching the vastness of space, Bochanski led a team in 2015 that found the most distant stars ever observed in the Milky Way. He’s excited about the way LSST has been designed to democratize the data it generates, empowering scientists of all stripes to push knowledge forward.
Additionally, participation in the alliance opens research opportunities for students.
“I’ll be recruiting undergrads to help with research, and for Rider students interested in data analysis, this will be a great tool,” said Bochanski. “They will have access to the same data served up to top-tier researchers. One of the great things about Rubin is that they’ve put a lot of effort into making sure that many different universities can get involved. Giving a lot of people access to data makes this project special.”
Bochanski is hopeful that the $800 million observatory, which was jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, will inspire a new generation of scientists.
“I hope we continue to dream big about answering fundamental questions about our place in the universe,” he said.
