The powerful new Rubin Observatory just found 11,000 new asteroids and measured 'tens of thousands more'

Early observations from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have already revealed more than 11,000 previously unknown asteroids, reshaping our view of the solar system and offering a striking preview of what's to come once full science operations begin.

"This first large submission after Rubin First Look is just the tip of the iceberg and shows that the observatory is ready," Mario Juric, Rubin Solar System Lead Scientist, said in the statement. "What used to take years or decades to discover, Rubin will unearth in months. "We are beginning to deliver on Rubin's promise to fundamentally reshape our inventory of the solar system and open the door to discoveries we haven't yet imagined.

Astronomers currently know of roughly 1.4 to 1.5 million asteroids across the solar system, most of which are concentrated in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. Rubin is expected to dramatically expand that number, potentially discovering millions of new objects over the course of its 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time. The observatory's 8.4-meter mirror and massive camera — the largest ever built for astronomy — allow it to repeatedly image the entire southern sky every few nights, making it uniquely suited to spotting faint, fast-moving objects.