Where is the world's largest camera for observing the universe?

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Astronomy camera desert ChileThe Chilean desert sky is one of the clearest in the world and allows for optimal observation of the universe. Hinatea Chatal Hinatea Chatal 02/18/2024 3:15 p.m. 5 min

She does that The size of a small car and weighs 2.8 tons. It costs 800 million dollarsthe largest camera in the world will begin to explore the universe and take images by the first quarter of 2025. It will be installed on a telescope under construction “and allows you to scan the sky like never before before,” reveal those responsible for the US-financed project.

Instead of studying one star in detail one star at a timecan study the LSST camera (Space-Time Research as a Legacy for Posterity). billions of stars at the same time, a revolution in the world of astronomy! In order to do this, it “will sweep across the sky every 3 days.” by repeating the movement endlessly,” reports France24.

Mapping the Milky Way

Thanks to this high-performance camera, scientists can create a catalog very accurate images of the solar systemmap the milky way and Learn more about energy and dark matter. The machine is equipped with one 3,200 megapixel digital sensor. A screen is not enough to view the captured images.

In total, over 300 medium-sized HDTVs together are required to read a single image! The telescope that will record the camera is equipped with a mirror with a diameter of 8.4 m! Within 10 years the camera will have proven itself Information about 20 million galaxies, 17 billion stars and 6 million space objects.

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In the 1960s, when the first Chilean international observatory was installed On Cerro Tololo the telescope was only 40 cm in size! And that was him arrived “on the back of a mule, because there was no road,” laughs Stephen Heathcote, director of the Cerro Tololo Observatory (Chile).

A clear sky for stargazing…

The scientists decided to do soInstall the camera in northern Chile. A little more precise in Cerro Pachon, 560 km north of the capital Santiago. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is at over 2,500 m altitude. And is named after the American astronomer who discovered dark matter. This observatory fis one of the best astronomy centers in the South American country.

Why Chile? First of all, the conditions necessary for good observation of the stars, namely: a low cloud cover and dry climate. The place where the The sky is the purest on the planet occurs in Chile desert areas in the north of the country, between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes.

Certainly many Other countries have powerful observation deviceslike the United States, Australia, China and even Spain, but “the “Chile is unbeatable” when it comes to astronomy. The country welcomes you Telescopes from more than 30 countries are among the most powerful in the world (ALLA Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope, which will begin scanning the sky in 2027).

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According to the president of the Chilean Astronomical Society, Chile is home to a third of the world's most powerful telescopes on its territory. With this sophisticated machine in addition The country maintains its position in the field of astronomical observation.