The world’s largest digital camera was installed in a telescope at Chile’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory, as reported by international media.
According to details, the 3200-megapixel camera, named LSST, works like a regular digital camera and contains 189 sensors that collect the light from stars and other objects and convert it into electrical signals, which are then used to create digital images.
Each sensor is 16 mm in size, and each has more pixels than an iPhone camera. The installation had been in progress for a long time, and now its first images have been revealed, showing millions and billions of stars and galaxies.
The first images and videos from the camera installed at the Chilean observatory, with the support of U.S. institutions—the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy—will be officially released on the night of June 23.
The test images that have been released are based on 10 hours of observation from this camera. In a statement issued by the National Science Foundation, it was said that the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will collect more details about our universe than optical telescopes.
Initially, this observatory discovered 2,104 asteroids, 7 of which are near Earth. According to the National Science Foundation, it is expected that in its first 2 years, the observatory will discover millions and billions of space rocks, and the telescope is also considered the most effective for discovering asteroids or comets entering our solar system.
Researchers will receive valuable data from this camera, which will allow them to learn a great deal about the great mysteries of the universe. No specific details were provided about the initially released images, except that one image is based on a detailed view of two galaxies. The second image is of the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae, which is a star-forming region.
