Vera C. Rubin Observatory detects 11,000 new asteroids in the solar system
The Rubin Observatory has again shown its capabilities, discovering 11,000 new celestial bodies. Astronomers expect further findings.
Model of the inner solar system with the asteroids discovered by Rubin shown in light blue. Already known ones are shown in dark blue.
(Image: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/R. Proctor)
Researchers have once again made a record discovery with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, which opened in mid-2025: They have discovered more than 11,000 asteroids in our solar system, including very distant ones as well as near-Earth ones.
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has confirmed the data, the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) announced. The data comes from about one million observations carried out over a period of one and a half months. This is the largest single series of asteroid discoveries submitted in the past year.
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Astronomers discovered over 11,000 previously unknown asteroids in the asteroid belt and the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune. In addition, 80,000 known asteroids were observed. Some of them had been lost in the meantime, meaning their orbits could not be calculated, and therefore their future positions could not be predicted.
380 new trans-Neptunian objects
Around 380 new trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) discovered by the Rubin Observatory in less than two months are spectacular. So far, only about 5,000 of these ice-rich celestial bodies in the Kuiper Belt, found over three decades, were known. Two of the TNOs, 2025 LS2 and 2025 MX348, orbit the sun on extremely elongated paths. They move about 1,000 Astronomical Units (AU) away from the sun and are among the 30 known small planets that are farthest away. One AU corresponds to the average distance between the Earth and the sun, about 150 million kilometers.
The search for TNOs is like looking for a needle in a haystack, said Matthew Holman of the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. New algorithms were needed to teach the computer to filter out the distant objects of the solar system from millions of flickering light sources in the sky.
Among the newly discovered celestial bodies are also 33 so-called near-Earth objects (NEOs). The largest of these is about 500 meters in size. However, none of them pose a danger to Earth, the researchers emphasized. They expect the Rubin Observatory to find up to 90,000 more NEOs once it is fully operational.
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This is just the tip of the iceberg
The data submitted now is just the tip of the iceberg and shows that the observatory is ready, said Mario Juric, lead Rubin scientist.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is located in Chile, on Cerro PachĂłn mountain at an altitude of 2647 meters. It has a main mirror of 8.4 meters and the world's largest digital camera; it is as large as a small car, weighs 2.8 tons, and has a resolution of 3200 megapixels. The telescope can capture large areas of the night sky at high speed with unprecedented resolution, making temporal changes visible. This will make it possible to observe short-lived phenomena such as stellar explosions. It will also search for asteroids and provide insights into dark matter and dark energy.
Already the images taken in the first week of operation showed nearly 2000 new asteroids as well as numerous celestial bodies that change their brightness. The images include the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula in the Milky Way, as well as a gigantic shot with around 10 million individual galaxies.
(wpl)
