HONOLULU — A U.S. facility designed in part to solve the mysteries of dark matter now officially carries the name of Vera Rubin , the scientist who concluded that the elusive substance must exist.

That announcement came Monday (Jan. 6) here, at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, during an open house devoted to what to date has been called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

The fact that they don't, she reasoned, is proof that there is a massive amount of, well, something in the universe that humans cannot yet study directly — what we now call dark matter.

Another new name is also in the works, that one for a specific instrument in order to honor the private donation that kickstarted the LSST project before it was adopted by the federal government .

"The summit facility is looking really good," he said, sharing images of optical equipment at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory site, which is located on a mountain ridge called Cerro Pachón, in Chile.

However, he did add that some aspects of the project have been progressing more slowly and at a higher cost than previously expected, and that the team is pushing the schedule to meet its goal of taking "first light" data with its full-observing capacity in November 2021.