The coverage and hoopla around the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have died down a bit. Mentioned briefly in the First Look Event was the Skyviewer “app” (actually an interactive website, skyviewer.app), which includes a sonification tool (Skysynth). This site/app allows anyone with a decent enough internet connection to pan and zoom (and hear) through released VRO images. Not ready in time for the First Look Event, though, was the OrbitViewer (orbitviewer.app).
https://rubinobservatory.org/news/universe-to-you
The simplest way to describe OrbitViewer is to contrast the 2D SkyViewer (“spherical astronomy”) with the 3D views that OrbitViewer can render of Solar System objects. SkyViewer is like paintings on canvas- to a first approximation, basically everything SkyViewer shows you is at incredible distances, and the depth dimension is basically ignored. With OrbitViewer, the scale of our Solar System, though still inhuman, is at least palpable. OrbitViewer then renders, pans, and zooms the planets, asteroids, and comets like a modern, numerical orrery (toy solar system).
OrbitViewer.app is now running. Anyone who goes to that site can see Vera Rubin asteroids, and pan/zoom to their heart’s content. As the number of asteroids grows (rapidly), the filters will become a good idea. (And then maybe a crucial idea.) So give it a spin… even on a smartphone.