The world's largest digital camera is ready to investigate the dark universe (www.space.com)
from throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to astronomy@mander.xyz on 04 Apr 2024 01:21
https://lemmy.nz/post/8845837

#astronomy

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autotldr@lemmings.world on 04 Apr 2024 01:25 next collapse

This is the best summary I could come up with:


The 3,200-megapixel LSST camera is the size of a compact car and weighs in at 3 metric tons, which is about half the weight of a male African bush elephant.

The LSST’s wide-field view will attempt to solve lingering mysteries surrounding dark energy, the force that accounts for around 70% of our universe’s matter-energy content and causes the expansion of the cosmos to accelerate.

The LSST will also investigate dark matter, the mysterious substance that accounts for around 85% of all stuff in the cosmos despite being invisible to us, as well as answer other astronomical questions as it creates what Željko Ivezić, Director of Rubin Observatory’s construction, describes as the “greatest movie of all time and the most informative map of the night sky ever assembled.”

It will enable really incisive studies of the expansion of the universe and dark energy," Aaron Roodman, SLAC professor and Rubin Observatory Deputy Director and Camera Program Lead, told Space.com.

“Its images are so detailed that it could resolve a golf ball from around 15 miles away, while covering a swath of the sky seven times wider than the full moon,” Roodman added.

Before the LSST Camera can help scientists play detective to investigate dark energy and other cosmic mysteries, however, it has to be transported from SLAC in Menlo Park, California to the 8,900-foot (2713 meters) peak of Cerro Pachón in the Andes.


The original article contains 1,118 words, the summary contains 231 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

crazyminner@lemmy.ml on 04 Apr 2024 05:13 next collapse

Finally I’ll get a wallpaper big enough to fit on all my monitors.

[deleted] on 04 Apr 2024 07:44 collapse

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