The amazing result of Rubin proves that it is a “changing games” to discover dangerous asteroids

Astronomers usually keep their eyes on the sky, but on Monday, June 23, society turned his attention to Washington, DC, like Scientists from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory revealed the first pictures of the telescope. Many have waited more than 20 years to see Robin at work, and his initial results have not been disappointed.

Robin, a joint initiative from the National Science Corporation (NSF) and the Office of the Ministry of Energy (DOE) for Science, recently conducted the first 10 hours of test notes. In that short period, the observatory produced great pictures and discovered more than 2000 asteroids unknown, including seven asteroids semi -Earth. None of them pose a threat to our planet, but through this wealth of new data, the observatory has already proven to be a changing toys for asteroid fishermen working on planetary defense. By conducting unprecedented fast and detailed surveys of the entire southern sky, Robin will allow scientists to find rocks more space than ever.

“Since this camera system is designed, we all knew that breathtaking will be in what he presented, but this has exceeded all our expectations,” Richard Benzel, professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the inventor of the Turin scale – the potential earth events classification tool.

The data has been transmitted from these 2000 new asteroids directly to the center of the Small Planet of the Astronomical Union (MPC), which is the internationally recognized organization responsible for indexing and publishing data on asteroids, comets and other small heavenly bodies. It plays an essential role in early detection and monitoring asteroids that threaten Earth. MPC spent years preparing to expel data from Rubin, which increases its program to process huge amounts of notes. “The nerves and exciting nerves simultaneously were.”

This was just a taste of what would come. Within a few months, Robin will start the old survey of space and time (LSST), a ten -year survey, almost continuous for the southern sky. This will produce a time record for superior time and the universe. In terms of asteroids, this means that MPC will receive about 250 million notes annually from LSST, according to Payne. “For us, this is a changing games in the total amount of data we get, because at the present time we reach a place in the region from 50 to 60 million a year,” he said.

How does Robin do that?

Robin’s wonderful capabilities stem from her wonderful tools. Equipped with a unique three -stage telescope design The largest digital camera everThis observatory can completely completed surveys with discovering very faded things like asteroids. Payne explained that this embodies the main gap between the current technologies.

When hunting rocks, “You need to move as much as possible,” said Peter Ferris, astronomical physicist MPC, to Gizmodo. “This is what LSST is doing, and there is no survey in the world that aims to do so.” During this 10 -year poll, Robin will monitor an automatic table using the 27.6 -feet SIMONYI SIMONYI telescope (8.4 meters). All exposure will cover for 30 seconds about 45 times the size of the moon is complete. Next, the enormous LSST camera will take large -scale pictures and install them together to create a full view of the southern sky every three nights. VERES explained that a mixture of the huge vision of Robin, the time of short exposure, and its ability to sweep the sky will lead to an ice breakdown of the asteroid’s discoveries.

In 2005, Congress I command NASA to create a semi -ground object scanning program to discover, track, catalog and describe the physical characteristics of all asteroids near the Earth and comets at least 328 feet (100 meters). Payne said that if one of these things hit our planet, it will lead to a comprehensive destruction that would weaken life on a continental scale. He explained that the goal is to find 90 % of them by 2020, but the current estimates show that NASA did not find only about 40 %. LSST NASA can help pick the pace. Payne said: “Only a revolution will begin to make our understanding of these things of things,” Payne said.

Benzel agrees. “These things exist, whether we saw them or not,” he said. “We will see them now, and we will be able to determine that most of them – if not all of them – will pass safely on the ground in the coming decades. But the best news is if there is an object that we have already named, then we will be able to find it most likely, most likely years – if it is not fine – before it comes to the ground.”

In theory, this would give NASA’s PDOC defense office time to launch a task to intercept the asteroid. PDOC is still developing this ability, but in 2022, The task of testing the dual asteroid is launchedWhich sent a spacecraft on a 10 -month journey to collision with Damorfos Moon. The collision succeeded in changing the tropical path of Dimorphos, which indicates NASA’s ability to deviate a large asteroid away from Earth if it is given enough time.

NASA was not affected?

Given the clear capabilities of Robin to revolutionize the planetary defense efforts – and the global interest he received – one expects NASA to sing her praise. This was not the case. The agency has been strangely quiet about the launch of the observatory – in fact, it seems completely ignoring the first discoveries of Robin.

“You thought that the planetary defense will be in the front row chanting, saying:” Send me data! “Said Keith Kewing, a astronomer and a former NASA employee who is the NASA editor -in -chief.

NASA did not share any general information about the Monday event and did not promote the observatory’s results. When Gizmodo continues to comment on Robin’s contributions to the science and planetary defense, NASA refused and was commanded to reach the observatory instead.

On Tuesday, June 24, the Agency’s Office for the Inspector General was published a report To implement and manage the planetary defense strategy in NASA. The report is only briefly mentioned by Robin, along with the upcoming NEO spaces from NASA, a space telescope designed to find asteroids that can hit the Earth. “It is expected that you will find these new bets and track more new capabilities, which probably means a significant increase in the necessary follow -up notes,” says the report.

NASA PDCO and Planetary Sciences program will undoubtedly be used data collected by LSST, so what is there with a cold shoulder? Cowing believes that it is a symptom of the agency’s internal disorders. He said: “They are increasing in NASA.” “Their budgets are reduced from all sides – they do not know what the final budget will be, but the White House wants to cut it – and they have to respond to this with everything at hand.”

In fact, the proposal of President Donald Trump’s budget for 2026 NASA scientific financing Through 47 %, you may kill more than 40 missions, according to Planetary Association. “The only good news is what has not been shot,” said Coming.

Most NASA employees – including planetary defense staff – are suspected of survival. “What do you do when you simply know if you will have a job, or if the person next to you will get a job, or if you need to compete for the same job?” Request the costume. “This is what is at the core of this. It is just a state of distress and public fear, and people simply do not do routine, professional, cooperative and collective work that they will do through agencies and countries.”

With NASA for science, it is not clear whether the agency will get resources and employees to take full advantage of Robin data. Although PDCO is currently leading planetary defense efforts in the world, this may change soon. Binzel, however, optimistic. “The great countries are doing a wonderful science,” he said. “I still believe that our nation will continue to do a great knowledge.