The observatory aims to discover 5 million new objects in the solar system

The famous Vera Rubin Observatory – scheduled to become operational in early 2025 in northern Chile – is often touted as a new and better tool for understanding dark energy, dark matter and cosmology. However, the installation should also open a new window for observing our solar system. In fact, the Rubin Survey of Space and Time (LSST) estimates that as many as five million small objects have been discovered in the solar system.

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Asteroids and comets are thought to be traces of planetary formation, with compositions reflecting their region of formation, said Carrie Holt, a postdoctoral researcher in astronomy and planetary science at Las Cumbres Observatory in California, during an interview in Puerto Varas, Chile. . “LSST will detect a greater number of objects in our solar system,” she says.

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With a larger inventory of objects, we will be able to better understand the formation of our solar system and its subsequent evolution, Holt said during the recent conference in Puerto Varas.

LSST field research is expected to completely change the current paradigm of known near-Earth objects, taking us from approximately 20,000 OPTs (near-Earth objects) to an estimated 200,000 over the lifetime of the survey.

“We are excited about the possibility of detecting very small objects approaching or even impacting Earth,” says Holt.

What about searching for interstellar objects?

Due to the vast distances between stars, interstellar asteroids and comets are extremely rare. An effective way to search for them is through a large-scale, fast survey such as LSST, which highlights the observatory.

LSST also expects to find comets farther from the sun than ever before. It should detect up to ten asteroids and interstellar comets that are just beginning to enter our solar system.

Right now, especially with distant comets, there aren't enough samples to draw firm conclusions, Holt says. “So having more stuff will help with that.”

Today there are about 3,000 known comets, but LSST is expected to triple that number to nearly 10,000 comets, many of which are in our outer solar system.

Trying to find pristine comets

Comets spend most of their lives relatively unchanged in the outer solar system, as relics of planetary formation. The dynamically new comets have nearly parabolic orbits, Holt says, suggesting they are entering the inner solar system for the first time.

Because it's so far away, we can't see the Oort cloud — a spherical reservoir of comets — directly, Holt says. But Oort cloud comets are pushed inward by passing stars and galactic tides, she explains. “And when it gets close to the inner solar system, we can observe it.”

What is the importance of Oort cloud comets?

“Oort cloud comets are some of the most primitive objects in our solar system, and have retained ice since they first formed,” Holt says. “And they're so far away that they're not really affected by the sun.”

LSST research allows theorists to gain a better understanding of the early stages of our solar system. Some of these comets likely contain original material dating back to about 4.567 billion years ago. They have been in a deep freeze on the outer edges of our solar system for billions of years.

As it begins to head toward the interior of our system, its ice turns from solid to gas without passing through a liquid phase. The hope is that LSST can first identify one of these ancient comets and then follow up on that discovery using ground-based or space-based spectroscopy. If so, these observations could reveal valuable treasure about the early solar system.

“So when we look at these comets, we're essentially looking at the material that helped form the solar system,” Holt says. “This gives us an idea of ​​how the system got to where it is today.”