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Silicon Valley Astronomy LecturesAuthor: Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
Listen to exciting, non-technical talks on some of the most interesting developments in astronomy and space science. Founded in 1999, the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are presented on six Wednesday evenings during each school year at Foothill College, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. Speakers include a wide range of noted scientists, explaining astronomical developments in everyday language. The series is organized and moderated by Foothill's astronomy instructor emeritus Andrew Fraknoi and jointly sponsored by the Foothill College Physical Science, Math, and Engineering Division, the SETI Institute, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, and the University of California Observatories (including the Lick Observatory.) Language: en-us Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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The Amazing Vera Rubin Observatory and Its Movie of the Sky
Episode 1
Thursday, 16 October, 2025
A Nontechnical talk by Dr. Steven Kahn (University of California, Berkeley)Oct. 8, 2025The amazing Vera Rubin Observatory is a unique astronomy facility just built in Chile, with the largest digital camera in the world, designed to provide a time-lapse “movie” of the entire sky from the Earth’s southern hemisphere. Over its planned ten years of operation, the Rubin Observatory will obtain nearly 1,000 images of every part of that sky. By comparing the various images, we will be able to detect everything that varies in brightness and everything that moves across the sky. By adding together all of the images, we will be able to catalog nearly 20 billion galaxies and a comparable number of stars. After 20 years of development, this facility has just come on-line and will soon begin its nightly operations. Prof. Kahn, who was Director of the Observatory during its construction phase, reviews the design, development, and construction of Rubin, and describes the exciting science that lies ahead.
