3200MP, 500,000+ galaxies and 50,000+ stars: These are the numbers from the latest image coming from the world’s largest camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. And yet, researchers say the latest image from the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is just the beginning of what the record-breaking night sky camera could achieve.
The National Science Foundation National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, or NOIRLab, has released a new image of the COSMOS Field, one of the most observed sections of the sky, thanks to its relatively little interference from the light and dust of the Milky Way.
Captured by the LSST Camera, researchers say the shot offers a relatively clear view beyond the Milky Way, with only a small handful of Milky Way stars in the foreground. The image, researchers say, contains a myriad of different galaxies, from spirals to elliptical to even merging galaxies and distant red galaxies. The image covers about one sixth of the visible night sky in the southern hemisphere.
The photograph is constructed from a series of hundreds of separate views from LSST, which at more than three tons and roughly the size of a small car, is the world’s largest camera. The images were captured between April 2025 and January 2026, when the LSST camera was still in its testing phase.
The LSST’s decade-long survey of the night sky only began earlier this summer, and researchers suggest that the newest image is just a hint of what’s to come. The image was released to celebrate the first phase of Rubin’s Data Preview 2.
“The COSMOS deep image is just the beginning for Rubin in this region,” said Rubin Observatory Director at NSF NoirLab Bob Blum. Repeated visits to the field over the next few years will demonstrate the power of our survey design for discovery by providing our science community with a huge number of transient and variable objects like supernovae and other explosive transients for follow-up and detailed study.”
The LSST camera uses mirrors and three lenses to capture views of the night sky on a 3200MP sensor. NoirLab says that to get the same resolution from a smartphone camera, you’d need about 260 of them. The camera weighs about 6,600 lbs / 3,000 kg – even the filters for the camera are about 90 pounds / 40 kg.
While the LSST’s decade-long survey of the night sky has only just begun, early images are available to explore (and pixel peep) in the Vera C Rubin Skyviewer app.
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