World's largest digital camera created in the Bay Area installed in Chile: Here's a look
MENLO PARK, Calif. (KGO) -- The world's largest digital camera made in the Bay Area has now been installed in Chile.
The camera is the size of a car and could unlock new views of the universe.
It's called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera.
"We are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records," said Aaron Roodman.
Roodman is the LSST camera project leader, he spoke to ABC7 from Chile in the Vera C. Rubin observatory dome where the camera was just installed.
That observatory is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.
MORE: World's most powerful x-ray laser created in Bay Area lab set for major upgrade: Here's a look
The camera with 3 billion pixels and the largest ever lens built for astronomy, was made to see as much of the sky as possible.
"We like to say that we're going to make a color movie of the entire Southern Hemisphere sky," Roodman said.
It's all part of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time that the camera is named after.
For 10 years, the camera will scan the sky repeatedly, creating an incredibly detailed time-lapse record of the universe.
"We hope to study dark energy, which is causing the universe's expansion to accelerate, but we really don't understand a lot about it. We'll study dark matter. We'll study galaxies and how they form across the entire universe. We'll study our own galaxy, the Milky Way, looking to better understand its formation, better understand where the dark matter is in our own galaxy. And we'll also study the solar system," Roodman said.
Weighing 6000 pounds, the camera was built in Menlo Park at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory - a hub of scientists, engineers and technicians.
"We really took advantage of so much of that expertise at SLAC, because the camera is so large and we had to use so many custom-built components," Roodman said, "So we had to design them ourselves or tell companies exactly what we needed. We really needed a huge array of different talents, and SLAC was a perfect place to do it."
MORE: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory hosts 21 Oakland middle schoolers for free 1-week camp
Once construction of the camera finished in Menlo Park the task of getting it to Chile was next.
"We chartered a 747, to bring the camera and about 10 other truckloads of equipment from SLAC here to Chile, so it was pretty involved," Roodman said.
After the camera got there, it went through tests until finally being installed earlier this month on the Rubin Observatory's Simonyi Survey Telescope.
"We hope to get our very first images next month," Roodman said.
He said data collected is public so it will be open to the entire US science community and select foreign partners who've helped contribute.
"I think actually some of the most excitement will come from things that we can't predict today because the data is so rich, "Roodman said, "And if we're looking at the sky in a way we've never looked before, I think people's creativity will uncover some fantastic new things."
After some more tests, the hope is that the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time will start this fall.
