Keele-backed research consortium hails new era for astronomy with new cosmos-mapping study
A research consortium including a Keele scientist has welcomed an exciting new era for astronomy with the release of the first new images from a powerful observatory.
Keele’s Professor Rob Jeffries is one of the 36 British scientists from the country’s top astrophysics research groups, who are contributing to the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) study led by the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.
Professor Jeffries and his colleagues in the LSST:UK consortium will contribute to the study by interpreting and mining the vast amounts of data sent from the Rubin Observatory, which will enable groundbreaking science that enhances our understanding of the universe.
The First Look images from the Rubin LSST study, released today, offer a glimpse at how the study will bring the universe to life over the next decade, through an ultra-wide and ultra high-definition timelapse record which will revolutionise the way we explore the cosmos.
Full science operations to analyse the data and photographs sent by the Rubin Observatory will begin later this year.
Professor Jeffries, a Professor of Astrophysics in Keele’s School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, said: “The sheer depth and breadth of data provided by LSST, with its unique ability to follow changes in the brightness of billions of objects from night-to-night, offers UK astronomers a panoramic window on the universe that will be unsurpassed for decades.”
