2,100 asteroids and 7 unknown objects were lurking near Earth. We have only now found them

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has finally taken the first pictures of the universe with the world's most powerful digital camera. The program will take a time-lapse of the universe in 10 years, piecing together fragments of space that have never been seen before. Its first observations within the first few hours of launch are already blowing everyone's minds. In the first 10 hours, the telescope detected 2,104 new asteroids and seven space objects close to Earth. It has taken photos of the Virgo Cluster, a collection of galaxies about 55 million light-years away. The LSST (Legacy Survey of Space and Time) camera took the photo in just 10.5 hours over seven nights. Another photo shows several stars of the Milky Way and also about 10 million other galaxies. Most of these galaxies were observed for the first time. The Rubin Observatory in Chile is the only one that can take such pictures at this scale and so quickly.

A spectacular photo captures the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae approximately 5,000 light-years away for the first time. The picture shows glowing gas and dust, with the Lagoon Nebula making up the most striking part. It is a vibrant stellar nursery 4,000 light-years away, which is churning out new stars. The Rubin Observatory in Chile has also identified 1,800 unknown asteroids and discovered 2,100 new space rocks.

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Apart from what it has revealed within this short time, what's more exciting are the endless possibilities and so much more that it can reveal in the coming days, weeks, months and years. The next year is expected to throw up some amazing surprises. Scientists expect the Vera C. Rubin Observatory to discover a whopping 5 million asteroids over the next ten years. In comparison, one million asteroids have been discovered in the last 200 years.

Vera Rubin will discover ninth planet

The most exciting thing that the Rubin Observatory can do in the next one year is discover the ninth planet. Scientists believe there is a planet beyond Neptune, but it has never been discovered. If there is another planet in the solar system, then the Rubin Observatory is most likely to find it. The orbits of planets in the solar system and the way objects in the Kuiper Belt behave have led astronomers to hypothesise that something lies at the very ends.

The main objective of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is to create an ultra-HD time-lapse movie of the night sky, which will be called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time. It will capture the changes that will occur in space during this time, "not just through static images, but in dynamic evolution." Just like it threw up millions of galaxies humans had never observed before within merely hours, scientists are excited to find out what else it could see in 10 years.