The Legacy Survey of Space and Time ( LSST ) Camera is now complete . It will before long travel to theVera C. Rubin Observatorywhere it will provide an unbelievable fresh eye on the southern sky and help us better do underlying questions about the nature of dark subject and dark vigor .
The LSST camera is a technical marvel . It is 3,200 megapixels and it weighs 3,000 kilo ( 6,600 pounds ) . The persona acquire by the photographic camera are so declamatory that to screen them properly it would take 378 4 K ultra - high - definition TV in a power system to screen them in good order . What a equipment !
“ With the completion of the singular LSST Camera at SLAC and its impending desegregation with the rest of Rubin Observatory system in Chile , we will soon start produce the peachy picture show of all meter and the most instructive map of the night sky ever gather , ” Director of Rubin Observatory Construction and University of Washington professor Željko Ivezić , said in astatement .
The television camera itself has two lenses . The first one is 1.5 meters ( 5 feet ) across , making it the largest ever lens of the eye manufacture for such a purpose . The second one is 90 centimeters ( 3 feet ) wide , which is also not exactly pocket-size . Both are custom - designed , and the second one is used to seal the focal plane of the lens system , which is kept in a vacuum .
The focal plane is the beat heart of the camera . It is made of 201 CCD sensing element – similar to what you find in a usual digital camera – but these are custom - made . Each pixel is 10 micrometer wide and the focal plane is so flat that its surface does n’t vary by more than one - ten percent of the width of a human hair’s-breadth .
All together , you have a radical resolution .
“ Its images are so detailed that it could resolve a golf game ball from around 25 kilometers ( 15 miles ) aside , while cut through a swath of the sky seven time wider than the full Moon . These epitome , with zillion of stars and galaxies , will help unlock the closed book of the Universe , ” said SLAC professor and Rubin Observatory Deputy Director and Camera Program Lead Aaron Roodman .
The Rubin Observatory will study how galaxies and clusters of galaxies have changed over billions of years , provide insights into the development of galaxies and the statistical distribution of dark-skinned matter . It will measure supernovae , allow insights into the expansion of the cosmos and its cause : dark energy . It will also help study the solar system by recognize never - seen - before asteroid .
The first twinkle for the observatory is bear in January 2025 .
