Scientists Constructed the World's Largest 3.2-Billion-Pixel Digital Camera for Universe Exploration

Scientists have completed the construction of the world's largest digital camera with 3.2 billion pixels for studying the Universe. The development of this camera, named LSST, took 9 years. It will be used at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory to study the southern sky for a period of 10 years, as reported by Gizmodo.

The LSST camera has a resolution of 3.2 billion pixels and weighs 2.8 tonnes, making it the largest digital camera in the world. Its primary objective is to explore space and time, including the nature of dark matter, dark energy, the expansion of the Universe, and the formation of galaxies.

The camera will use a 155.44 cm wide optical lens for 15-second exposures of the sky every 20 seconds, automatically changing filters to capture light across various wavelengths, from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared. Continuous sky monitoring will ultimately result in a chronological survey of the sky; it will highlight transient events for other scientists tuning their telescopes and track changes in the southern sky.

It will also enable scientists to investigate the expansion of the Universe through gravitational lensing and detect special objects like quasars that are in specific juxtapositions with galaxies.

The first images from the LSST camera are set to be published in 2025. Before that, the team needs to transport the camera to Chile, prepare the observatory, and commence their research. It is expected that the LSST camera will increase the number of known objects tenfold and provide new unique data about the Universe.

"Soon we will start creating the largest movie of all time and the most informative map of the night sky ever assembled," said Željko Ivezić, an astrophysicist from the University of Washington.

Due to light pollution from human activity, it is becoming increasingly difficult to observe stars in the sky. The Rubin Observatory is located high in the Chilean Atacama Desert, known for its suitability for telescope installations. Unfortunately, even being in such a dry, high, and cloudless location does not exempt telescopes from satellite light pollution. When satellites pass overhead, their light leaves long streaks on telescope images; groups of satellites working together, known as constellations, pose an even more serious problem.

A report from 2022 showed that the entire SpaceX constellation of 42,000 satellites will appear in 30% of LSST camera images – and that's not even considering other satellites operating in low Earth orbit.