The Vera S. Rubin Observatory in Chile, equipped with the world's most powerful digital camera, has released its first images from space, the BBC reports. It opens up a new way for humans to see the deepest and darkest parts of the universe.

One of the first images shows vast, colorful clouds of gas and dust swirling around a star-forming region 9,000 light-years from Earth.

The observatory will help answer some of the universe's most profound questions, including the nature of black holes, which are thought to account for most of the universe's mass. Scientists say that if there is a ninth planet in our solar system, the telescope could detect it within the first year.

The Vera Rubin Observatory is in the Chilean Andes on Mount Chero Pachon. The observatory is strictly controlled by light; even when driving on the mountain at night, cars do not use bright headlights so as not to interfere with stargazing.

The observatory is equipped with a 3.2 million megapixel camera (about 67 times more potent than the iPhone 16 Pro), capable of catching even a golf ball on the moon. The camera will operate for 10 years, taking pictures of the sky every three days and capturing all the space changes.

The capabilities are so excellent that scientists expect to significantly increase the number of known objects in the solar system. It will also be able to detect dangerous asteroids approaching Earth.