By the end of the survey, this 3.2-gigapixel camera will have catalogued 20 billion galaxies and collected up to 60 petabytes of data—roughly three times the amount currently stored by the US Library of Congress. Compiling all these images together, with help from specialized algorithms and a supercomputer, will give astronomers a time-lapse view of the sky. Seeing how so many galaxies are dispersed and shaped will enable them to study dark matter’s gravitational effect. They also plan to create the most detailed three-dimensional map of our Milky Way galaxy ever made. 

If all goes well, the telescope will snap its first science-quality images—a special moment known as first light—in mid-2025. The public could see the first photo released from Rubin soon after.