Creating the world’s largest camera for the “greatest movie ever”

United States – Scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, in the United States, have completed construction of the world’s largest camera following two decades of work.

The 3,200-megapixel Heritage Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera weighs 3 metric tons and features a lens with a diameter of 1.57 metres.

Scientists say it will provide unprecedented insights into some of the biggest mysteries of the universe. Once placed over a telescope at the Rubin Observatory in Chile, astronomers will use it to search for dark matter, which makes up regarding 85% of the matter in the universe.

“We will soon begin producing the greatest film and most accurate map of the night sky ever,” said Željko Ivezic, a professor at the University of Washington and director of the Rubin Observatory.

Aaron Rodman, deputy director of the Rubin Observatory, explained that the camera’s resolution is so high that it requires hundreds of ultra-high-definition televisions to display just one of its full-sized images.

Astronomers plan to use the LSST camera to discover previously undocumented supernova stars, as well as improve our understanding of the Milky Way and our solar system.

The camera’s sensitivity is supposed to allow the production of the most detailed map of our galaxy ever.

“There are a lot of scientists at SLAC, and around the world, who will find something of value in the data this camera will produce,” said Risa Wechsler, a cosmologist who directs the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at SLAC.

Source: Independent