The world's largest ever digital camera has become operational an observatory in Chile. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope camera was funded U.S. government agencies. The enormous device was installed the Vera C. Rubin Observatory the South American nation. Astronomers will now commence a period testing. They will use the camera to observe the southern hemisphere skies the next decade. The Department of Energy's Office of Science commented how momentous the completion the telescope was. It called the camera "a triumph science and engineering". It added: "We look forward to seeing the unprecedented images this camera will produce."
The camera is the size a small car and weighs 2,721 kg. It has a massive 3-billion-pixel sensor. comparison, today's top--the-range smartphone cameras have 200 million pixels. Astronomers will repeatedly scan the sky to take time-lapse images space. Lead researcher Aaron Roodman said: "We like to say that we're going to make a colour movie the entire Southern Hemisphere sky." In particular, he hopes to capture images that will shed light how galaxies formed. Roodman's team will also investigate dark matter – the invisible substance that makes a significant portion the universe. In addition, the camera will map our Milky Way galaxy greater detail than ever before.
