The LSST, housed at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, embarks on its decade-long Legacy Survey of Space and Time. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory delivered its LSST camera—a 3,200-megapixel behemoth, akin in size to a compact car, weighing 3 metric tons. This instrument aims to unravel mysteries surrounding dark energy, propelling the universe's expansion, and dark matter, constituting a significant portion of cosmic mass. Director Željko Ivezić envisions the LSST project as crafting the "greatest movie of all time and the most informative map of the night sky ever assembled."
The SLAC team, in collaboration with partners, tested the route for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), resulting in the creation of the largest digital camera ever for astronomy. This monumental endeavor yielded a camera resembling a small car, weighing 3,000 kilograms, with a front lens over five feet across – the largest ever made for this purpose. A specially designed three-foot-wide lens maintains shape and optical clarity while sealing the vacuum chamber housing the camera's focal plane. This focal plane, composed of 201 custom-designed CCD sensors, boasts extraordinary flatness, with pixels just 10 microns wide.
The camera's most remarkable feature is its resolution, capable of rendering images of such detail that it would take hundreds of ultra-high-definition TVs to display just one image fully. As Aaron Roodman, SLAC professor and Rubin Observatory Deputy Director, notes, its capabilities extend to resolving a golf ball from 15 miles away while covering a swath of sky seven times wider than the full moon. These images, teeming with billions of stars and galaxies, promise to unlock the universe's deepest secrets.
Upon completion of thorough testing at SLAC, the LSST Camera is set for its voyage to Cerro Pachón in Chile, perched 8,900 feet high in the Andes. Its destination atop the Simonyi Survey Telescope marks the beginning of its pivotal role: meticulously mapping celestial objects' positions and brightness to unveil a trove of astronomical insights.
The making of LSST Camera
At the forefront of its mission is the detection of weak gravitational lensing phenomena, where colossal galaxies subtly warp the trajectories of light from distant counterparts. This lensing offers a glimpse into the universe's mass distribution evolution, shedding light on the mysteries of dark energy and cosmic expansion. Spearheading this groundbreaking venture, Martin Nordby, a senior staff engineer at SLAC and project manager, underscores the integration of cutting-edge CCD sensors and colossal lenses, ensuring seamless functionality. Moreover, scientists aim to unravel galaxies' distribution patterns across cosmic epochs, pinpointing dark matter clusters and identifying supernovae occurrences, promising deeper comprehension of the elusive realms of dark matter and dark energy.
The images captured by advanced telescopes offer profound insights not only into distant galaxies but also into our very own Milky Way. With the LSST Camera's exceptional sensitivity, researchers anticipate a comprehensive mapping of our galaxy, promising revelations about its structure, evolution, and the characteristics of its constituent stars and celestial bodies.
An artist's rendering of the LSST Camera showing its major components including lenses, sensor array, and utility trunk. (Chris Smith/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Furthermore, this cutting-edge technology aims to revolutionize our understanding of the solar system by conducting an extensive census of its numerous small objects. Projections suggest that the project could increase the known objects by tenfold, shedding light on the formation of our solar system and aiding in the identification of potential asteroid threats to Earth.
Moreover, scientists at the Rubin Observatory are poised to investigate the dynamic changes occurring in the night sky. From the demise of stars to the intricate processes surrounding matter falling into supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies, their observations promise to unveil the mysteries of cosmic evolution unfolding before our eyes.
