The world's largest digital camera with a resolution of 3.2 billion pixels

LSST is a 3.2 billion pixel camera measuring 1.7m wide and 3m long, weighing more than 3 tons. This camera includes 3 lenses and optional filters on the front, the rear is the focal plane. LSST has the ability to see into very distant space, which means looking back into the past, and photographing a large area. The front includes 3 optional lenses and filters, the rear is the focal plane.

The camera has 6 interchangeable optical filters that make it possible for astronomers to capture the sky in 6 different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared, and in a variety of lighting conditions. .

Once completed, the LSST will be moved to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory under construction on the El Penon summit of the Cerro Pachon mountain, Northern Chile. Here, it will be used to capture exposure images lasting up to 15 seconds and will photograph the southern half of the sky every three days to help scientists study galaxies, asteroids, dark energy and matter. darkness, the formation of the Milky Way, objects in the Kuiper belt. and mysterious cosmic phenomena.

Once operational, the world's largest digital camera will generate a huge amount of data - almost 6 million GB a year. To display 1 photo at full size would require up to 378 4K UHD TV screens.

Marvin Fry

Update 26 November 2021