Strasenburgh Planetarium > Shows & Events
Messengers of Time and Space
This immersive experience invites audiences to explore the dynamic cosmos and witness the transformative impact of real-time data on our understanding of the Universe. Learn about the most current tools of exploring the universe.
how does information reach us through cosmic rays, elusive neutrinos, and gravitational waves?
Modern astronomical surveys, like the Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), will detect up to 10 million changes in the sky every night, with alerts generated within minutes. Yet, many of these alerts will require additional observations to understand the physical phenomena. Observatories providing this critical follow-up must become capable of responding quickly and efficiently. With the new improvements provided by the GEMMA project, Gemini will become a global leader in these follow-up observations, able to study the faintest, highest-priority targets.
The planetarium show highlights how Gemini will work together with observatories that monitor the night sky for exciting astronomical events that change with time, like Rubin Observatory. Sometimes, light is not the only indicator of these short-term events. Audiences will learn how information can reach us through other messengers like cosmic rays, elusive particles called neutrinos, and even gravitational waves rippling through the Universe
Learn more about the vera c. rubin observatory
Image credit: RubinObs/NSF/DOE/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/W. O’Mullane
NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a brand new astronomy and astrophysics facility under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile, with first light expected in 2025. It’s named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who provided the first convincing evidence for the existence of dark matter.
The Simonyi Survey Telescope at Rubin Observatory, equipped with the LSST Camera—the largest digital camera ever built—will take detailed images of the southern hemisphere sky for 10 years, covering the entire sky every few nights and creating an ultra-wide, ultra-high-definition, time-lapse record—the largest astronomical movie of all time.
With Rubin data we will gain a better understanding of our Universe, delve into the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, and reveal answers to questions we have yet to imagine.
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Proctor