This illustration shows the distortion of the observed shapes and positions of galaxies caused by weak gravitational lensing that is due to the Universe’s large scale structure, or ‘cosmic web’.
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time will be carried out by the observatory, assisting scientists in charting the large-scale structure or cosmic web of the universe with unparalleled detail. The cosmic web is a vast structure that comprises the large-scale distribution of galaxies, galaxy clusters, dark matter, and gas in the universe.
"With Rubin, we’re going to have everything. We’re going to measure the properties of vastly more galaxies than what we have now, which is going to give us the statistical power to use weak lensing to both map the distribution of dark matter and study how dark energy evolves with time,” said Plazas Malagón.