SLAC completes construction of the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy

Good news for star gazers! 😊

"... “With the completion of the unique LSST Camera at SLAC and its imminent integration with the rest of Rubin Observatory systems in Chile, we will soon start producing the greatest movie of all time and the most informative map of the night sky ever assembled,” says Director of Rubin Observatory Construction and University of Washington professor Željko Ivezić. ...

To achieve that goal, the SLAC team and its partners built the largest digital camera ever constructed for astronomy. The camera is roughly the size of a small car and weighs around 3,000 kilograms (3 metric tons), and its front lens is over 5 feet across—the largest lens ever made for this purpose. Another 3-foot-wide lens had to be specially designed to maintain shape and optical clarity while also sealing the vacuum chamber that houses the camera's enormous focal plane. That focal plane is made up of 201 individual custom-designed CCD sensors, and it is so flat that it varies by no more than a tenth the width of a human hair. The pixels themselves are only 10 microns wide. ..."

SLAC completes construction of the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy | symmetry magazine Once set in place atop a telescope in Chile, the 3,200-megapixel LSST Camera will help researchers better understand dark matter, dark energy and other mysteries of our universe.

Engineering the world’s largest digital camera Building the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope also means solving extraordinary technological challenges.