loading . . . Getting closer to the stars: Fink, a French tool for tracking transient phenomena across the observable Universe Fink is one of seven specialised data-processing tools4 selected by the Observatory. As part of its 10-year systematic survey of the southern sky, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), to be launched in 2026, Rubin now collects 20 terabytes – or 20,000,000,000,000 bytes – of images every night. Up to 10 million transient phenomena are detected nightly by Rubin and processed by the software, a feat made possible by the contributions of each member of the collaboration. From supernovae and asteroid flybys to star collisions with black holes, Fink is expected to enable major discoveries in transient astrophysics. This builds on its five years of operation with the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) telescope. Using data from Rubin, Fink can also enable the detection of rare interstellar objects passing through the Solar System, as well as potentially hazardous asteroids for Earth. Scientists also hope it will reveal entirely new astrophysical phenomena. In the future, the data collected will also be used in cosmology to study two mysterious components that make up more than 95% of the cosmos: dark matter and dark energy, the latter driving the Universe’s accelerated expansion. https://www.cnrs.fr/en/press/getting-closer-stars-fink-french-tool-tracking-transient-phenomena-across-observable-universe
