The powerful new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has already uncovered two previously unknown companions of the Milky Way, offering an early glimpse of what could become a much larger wave of discoveries. Astronomers believe hundreds of faint galaxies may still be hiding around our galaxy, and the observatory could finally bring many of them into view.

Located on Cerro Pachón in the Chilean Andes, the recently completed NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is designed to explore the sky in extraordinary detail. Its initial observations have now revealed two elusive objects that had escaped detection, demonstrating the telescope’s ability to find some of the faintest members of our galactic neighborhood.