The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a 8.4-meter telescope in Chile, has successfully completed its critical systems tests and taken its first images with an engineering camera. The observatory is set to be equipped with the world’s largest digital camera, LSSTCam, which boasts 21 times more field of view and 3,200-megapixel imaging capabilities than the ComCam.
The initial image, a nine-panel square capturing 144-megapixel view of the sky, used nine CCD camera sensors to cover an area about twice the size of the full moon. The engineering camera took 16,000 images during its trial. Once installed, LSSTCam will cover an area about 45 times larger than that.
The $571 million observatory is named after renowned astronomer Vera Rubin, who discovered dark matter in the universe. Its final Simonyi telescope with ultra-powerful LSSTCam is expected to be installed by March, followed by the first science images possibly by June or July this year.
Source: https://www.space.com/the-universe/vera-rubin-observatory-aces-1st-camera-tests-in-chile-atacama-desert-photo