Croatian scientist leading world’s largest astronomy survey as Rubin Observatory begins 10-year mission
- by croatiaweek
- in News
ZAGREB, 6 July (Hina) – The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has begun the world’s largest astronomical imaging survey after more than two decades of development and construction, launching the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) project led by Croatian scientist Željko Ivezić.
Since 2021, academician Ivezić has been the Director of Construction at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory; previously, he was the Deputy Director and Project Scientist.
The observatory, located on Cerro Pachón in northern Chile, will image the entire southern sky every few nights over the next decade, producing the most comprehensive and detailed survey of the universe ever undertaken, the University of Rijeka’s Faculty of Physics said.
The project is expected to generate the largest astronomical database ever assembled, containing information on around 40 billion celestial objects. The data will be made available to scientists worldwide as well as to the public.
Ivezić, an adjunct professor at the University of Rijeka’s Faculty of Physics and a corresponding member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU), said the survey officially began only after extensive system optimisation, technical testing, data-processing verification and scientific validation had been completed.
Croatian astrophysicists are also involved in the project through research groups at the University of Rijeka’s Faculty of Physics, the Ruđer Bošković Institute, the University of Zagreb and the Hvar Observatory.
In addition, the “Bura” supercomputer at the University of Rijeka’s Centre for Advanced Computing and Modelling is one of 13 international computing centres in the project and is dedicated exclusively to data analysis.
