3.2 billion pixel Camera (Yes, Billion!)

A 3.2 billion-pixel digital camera designed by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is now one step closer to reality. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope camera, which will capture the widest, fastest and deepest view of the night sky ever observed, has received “Critical Decision 1” approval by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to move into the next stage of the project.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will survey the entire visible sky every week, creating an unprecedented public archive of data – about 6 million gigabytes per year, the equivalent of shooting roughly 800,000 images with a regular eight-megapixel digital camera every night, but of much higher quality and scientific value. Its deep and frequent cosmic vistas will help answer critical questions about the nature of dark energy and dark ...

“With 189 sensors and over 3 tons of components that have to be packed into an extremely tight space, you can imagine this is a very complex instrument,” said Nadine Kurita, the project manager for the LSST camera at SLAC. “But given the enormous challenges required to provide such a comprehensive view of the universe, it’s been an incredible opportunity to design something so unique.”

Now that the LSST camera has passed Critical Decision 1, the project begins a detailed engineering design, schedule, and budget phase. While the DOE funds the design and construction of the camera, the full cost and logistics of the new telescope are being shared by the DOE and the National Science Foundation, as well as a large partnership of public and private organizations in the United States and abroad.

“This is the culmination of years of work by a large group of dedicated people,” said SLAC’s Steven Kahn, LSST deputy project director and leader of the DOE-funded effort on LSST. “I’ve personally been working on this since 2003, and it is tremendously satisfying to finally see this move forward to the point when we can begin to carry out the project.” If all continues as planned, construction on the telescope will begin in 2014. Preliminary work...As the primary component of all energy in the universe, the still-mysterious dark energy is perhaps the most important research target for LSST and the physicists who are building it. Yet that’s only a start. LSST’s fire hose of publicly available data will allow astronomers the world over to view faint and rapidly changing objects, create 3D maps and time lapses of the night sky and detail Pluto’s celestial neighborhood, the Kuiper belt."Not only should LSST revolutionize our understanding of the universe, its contents and the laws that govern its behavior, but it will also transform the way all of us, from kindergarteners to professional astrophysicists, use telescopes,” said Tony Tyson, LSST director and a professor of physics at the University of California, Davis. “These are exciting times!".

 LSST and Calypso

Two renderings combine to create this image of the LSST summit facility and Calypso, the small adjacent atmospheric telescope. March 2011
(Image credit: LSST Corporation)

A combination of two renderings, showing the telescope on the summit. March 2011 (Image credit: LSST Corporation)

In this artist's rendition, the LSST primary mirror is seen through the slit of the dome at sunset. The LSST will carry out a deep, ten-year imaging survey in six broad optical bands over the main survey area of 18,000 square degrees. 2011 (Image credit: Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc. / LSST Corporation)A simulated night sky provides a background for the LSST facilities building on Cerro Pachón. The LSST will carry out a deep, ten-year imaging survey in six broad optical bands over the main survey area of 18,000 square degrees. 2011 (Image credit: Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc. / LSST Corporation)

LSST Facility exterior at night.

A colorful night sky provides a background for the LSST facilities building on Cerro Pachón. The LSST will carry out a deep, ten-year imaging survey in six broad optical bands over the main survey area of 18,000 square degrees. 2011 (Image credit: Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc. / LSST Corporation)

LSST Optical Elements at sunset.

The optical elements of the LSST appear suspended over the coplanar primary/tertiary mirror. The secondary mirror, camera lenses and filters are also visible. 2011
(Image credit: Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc. / LSST Corporation)

LSST telescope

The 8.4-meter LSST will use a special three-mirror design, creating an exceptionally wide field of view and will have the ability to survey the entire sky in only three nights.
(Image credit: LSST Corporation)

LSST telescope in the dome

A cut-away view showing a rendering of the LSST in the dome, current as of January 2009