Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:After more than a decade under construction, the Vera Rubin Observatory has released its first images, which contain millions of galaxies. On August 1, 2014, workers began construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) perched atop Cerro Pachón in Chile’s Atacama Desert. NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin ObservatoryTo celebrate the beginning of its operation, the observatory has released the first images captured by the telescope. A quick comparison: JWST’s Near Infrared Camera has a field of view of roughly 0.05 square degrees, whereas Vera Rubin has a full 9.6 square degrees. “[Vera Rubin] represents the culmination of about two decades of dedication, innovation, and collaboration by a global team,” Željko Ivezić, Director of Rubin Observatory Construction, said in a press statement.