World’s Largest Camera is Ready to Take Its First 3,200-Megapixel Photos of the Universe
The groundbreaking 6,600-pound 3,200-megapixel Legacy Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) was installed this week at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. With the final optical component in position, the LSST team will perform final testing before capturing highly anticipated “First Look” photos.
This momentous accomplishment has been years in the making. Scientists made the first sketches for the LSST over 20 years ago, in 2003. In 2007, the project received key funding from Charles Simonyi, the namesake of the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and Bill Gates. In 2010, the project received federal funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE), who remain very involved in the project today.
“The installation of the LSST Camera on the telescope is a triumph of science and engineering,” says Harriet Kung, Acting Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science. “We look forward to seeing the unprecedented images this camera will produce.”
NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan adds that the camera installation is the last major hurdle in construction.
“It’s a testament to the technical prowess and dedication of the entire NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory team — and the scientific community that has been striving to get to this point for over two decades,” Panchanathan remarks.
“This is a pivotal moment for the teams from all around the world who collaborated to design and build the camera,” adds Aaron Roodman, Director of the LSST Camera and Deputy Director of Rubin Construction from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
“We will achieve a level of clarity and depth never seen before in images covering the entire southern hemisphere sky.”
The LSST Camera itself was completed last April, and PetaPixel visited the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California to view the record-setting camera before it went on a long, meticulously planned journey to a Chilean mountaintop.
The LSST Camera is the largest digital camera ever built. Its 3,200-megapixel image sensor comprises 189 high-resolution CCD image sensors arranged across 21 separate rafts of nine sensors each. Working in perfect unison alongside an 8.4-meter primary and tertiary mirror and a 3.5-meter secondary mirror, this record-setting 6,000-pound camera will capture ultra high-resolution photos of the cosmos for the next decade.
The data the LSST Camera captures, which will be used by researchers around the world, will fuel breakthrough discoveries and help answer questions about the Universe’s origins, evolution, and nature. A particular area of focus will be unraveling the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter.
“Mounting the LSST Camera onto the Simonyi Telescope was an effort requiring intense planning, teamwork across the entire observatory and millimeter-precision execution,” says Freddy Muñoz, Rubin Observatory Mechanical Group Lead. “Watching the LSST Camera take its place on the telescope is a proud moment for us all.”
“It has been a treat to watch the biggest camera the world has ever seen being built by such a talented group of people with such a wide range of backgrounds. It’s a wonderful example of what teams of scientists and engineers can accomplish when they are called upon to do what has never been done before,” adds Travis Lange, LSST Camera Project Manager from SLAC.
Now that the LSST Camera has been expertly installed at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the team will commence final tests over the coming weeks. Soon, the camera will be ready to start taking photos of the southern night sky, each image with enough pixels to cover a wall of 400 4K UHD televisions.
Image credits: Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/B. Quint
