The world’s largest digital camera, made in the Bay Area, has been installed in Chile to study the universe. The 3 billion pixel camera, weighing over 6,000 pounds, is part of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time project.
Project leader Aaron Roodman said the camera will scan the sky repeatedly for 10 years, creating an incredibly detailed time-lapse record of the universe. The camera’s goal is to study dark energy, dark matter, galaxies, and our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
Roodman praised the expertise at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, where the camera was built. “We really took advantage of so much of that expertise,” he said.
The camera was transported to Chile on a 747 and underwent tests before being installed at the Vera C. Rubin observatory dome. The project’s data will be publicly available for US scientists and select foreign partners.
Roodman hopes that the data collected by the camera will reveal new discoveries, including those yet unknown today. “I think people’s creativity will uncover some fantastic new things,” he said.
Source: https://abc7news.com/post/legacy-survey-space-time-camera-worlds-largest-digital-created-bay-area-installed-chile/16014225