World's largest digital camera is 266 times more powerful than Apple iPhone 14 Pro, details here
As part of the Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time, the camera's 3,200 megapixel sensor will probe astronomical secrets.
The LSST ('Large Synoptic Survey Telescope') digital camera, built by scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States, is the biggest in the world. The plan, begun a few years ago, is to install the camera on top of a Chilean observatory in the Andes. All of the parts have been put together into a working frame. A total of 189 individual CCD sensors are included into its composite sensor.
Scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California, USA, have built the biggest digital camera ever for use in astronomical exploration.
Size-wise, this LSST camera is comparable to that of a small car. Its mass is estimated at 3 tonnes. The LSST cameras will feature 3,200-megapixel sensors and a five-foot wide front lens, and they will be cooled down to -100 degrees Celsius to eliminate noise.
The LSST camera will be placed on top of the Simoni Survey Telescope at Chile's Vera C. Rubin Observatory for ten years, recording the night sky.
The nature of dark energy and dark matter, among the greatest mysteries in the cosmos, will be revealed with its help. The Guinness Book of World Records has officially recognised it as the biggest optic camera ever created.
Its photographic capabilities is shown by the fact that it can capture high-quality images of even microscopic particles on the moon's surface.
It has a lens with a resolution of 3,200 megapixels, which is roughly equivalent to 260 iPhone 14 Pro cameras.
(Images source: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)