The Rubin Observatory is throwing a big party to reveal its first pictures — and you’re invited

June 20, 2025 | GeekWire | by Alan Boyle

University of Washington astronomer Zeljko Ivezic, director of Rubin construction, joyfully raises his fist in the observatory’s control room in Chile after seeing the first on-sky engineering data captured with the LSST Camera. (Credit: RubinObs / NOIRLab / SLAC / DOE / NSF / AURA / W. O’Mullane)

After more than 20 years of planning and construction, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is ready for its grand opening, and the world is invited.

The observatory in the foothills of the Chilean Andes features a monster of a telescope, with an 8.4-meter-wide (28-foot-wide) mirror, coupled with what’s said to be the world’s largest digital camera.