World’s Largest Digital Camera Snaps First Images

Sep 8, 2020 | Daily Space, Science

CREDIT: Greg Stewart/Jacqueline Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The massive camera that will someday be installed on the LSST at the Vera Rubin Observatory has been successfully tested at Stanford University’s Linear Accelerator lab (SLAC). This is the largest camera built to date and will have the capacity of imaging an area of the sky equivalent to forty Moon faces and making out details the size of a golf ball seen from fifteen miles away. The team used a 150-micron wide pinhole camera to direct light reflected off a head of broccoli onto the camera. We’re not entirely sure how they decided on a head of broccoli, and for now, that will remain a mystery for another day.

More Information

SLAC/NSF press release 

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