Read, Watch or Listen

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile houses the world's largest digital camera, a small-car-sized device capturing 3.2-billion-pixel images of the night sky. Its first public images are slated for release on June 23rd. Each image, taking 15 seconds to capture, contains data equivalent to all NYT articles since 1851. The observatory will generate 20 terabytes of data nightly, mapping 20 billion galaxies and 17 billion stars, despite interference from satellites. The camera's data will be processed in California, France, and Britain.

Prepared by Olivia Bennett and reviewed by editorial team.