Welcome! This project recently migrated onto Zooniverse’s new architecture. For details, see here.
Help us identify changing objects across the universe with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, from explosive astrophysical transients to moving objects and more!
Learn moreYou can do real research by clicking to get started here!
Zooniverse Talk
Chat with the research team and other volunteers!
Rubin Difference Detectives Statistics
View more statsKeep track of the progress you and your fellow volunteers have made on this project.
Every click counts! Join Rubin Difference Detectives's community to complete this project and help researchers produce important results. Click "View more stats" to see even more stats.
By the numbers
Message from the researcher
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a project built by the community for the community. With Rubin Difference Detectives, everyone is invited to join this groundbreaking project and help make discoveries possible.
Rubin Difference DetectivesAbout Rubin Difference Detectives
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s is preparing to conduct a groundbreaking survey of the night sky. The first images from this newest survey telescope were released on June 23, 2025.
Rubin is a 10-year survey of the Southern Hemisphere sky. Rubin's science goals include understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy, creating an inventory of the Solar System, mapping the Milky Way Galaxy, and exploring the transient and variable universe.
Each night, Rubin will generate more than ten million world-public "alerts" identifying astrophysical transients, variables, and moving objects. To unlock this real-time view of the universe, Rubin will compare each new image of the sky to a previous "template" image. Any change between these images will show us objects that are changing or moving.
In this Zooniverse project, you will help the Rubin Alert Production team tune our alert system so that when Rubin begins its survey, everyone will be ready to make discoveries!