VRubinObs, 5 months ago

We’re nearing our final form 😎

Gear up, this one’s good. The Rubin Observatory dome officially rotated using its permanent gear system for the first time!

Until now, the dome moved with a temporary system that would only roughly position the dome as needed during construction. The new gear drive is what will precisely rotate the 600-ton dome into position throughout Rubin’s ten-year survey, due to start in 2025. And it has little vibration—important for the crisp images we all can’t wait for!

For the first 5 seconds, we’re zoomed in on one of the gears of the drive system that is turning and driving the dome above. From 5-11 seconds, we see the telescope mount appearing to rotate from above, but text appears on screen that says “the telescope isn’t moving, the dome is!” From 11-17 seconds, we’re back to a zoomed-in view of one of the gears turning the dome.