The most powerful digital camera in the world is 3.2 GB – resolution equivalent to 266 iPhone 13 | Cooperat
4 min read
Can you imagine what a 3.2 gigapixel digital camera would look like? yes – gigaPixel, resolution capacity of 3.2 thousand megapixels or 3.2 billion pixels. Because this equipment is located and located in California, West Coast of the United States. More specifically, in the labs of the Linear Accelerator Center Stanford University
The instrument will be part of the Large All-Sweeping Telescope (LSST) – in direct translation: the Large All-Sweeping Telescope (More understanding below), whose goal will be to record and classify at least 20 billion galaxies scattered throughout the universe in a 10-year period.
The super lens has 3.2 giga pixels – the equivalent of 1,500 HDTVs or 2666 iPhones. – Photo: Farrin Abbott/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
In this way, scientists hope to understand the emergence of these galaxies and the matter called “dark matter”, which is responsible for making up 95% of the universe and whose nature is still unknown.
“It’s the first time the telescope has looked at more galaxies than Earth’s population,” said project manager Vincent Riott.
The superlens in the Stanford University laboratory. – Photo: Farrin Abbott/SLAC
The lens was born out of a partnership between Stanford University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the National Center for Scientific Research – the latter from France.
With a height of 1.65 meters, a diameter of 1.57 meters and a weight of about three tons, the camera is so powerful that it can clearly capture the movement of dust on the lunar surface.
By comparison, the scientists involved in the project claim that The image quality and the amount of pixels produced by the camera is equivalent to 1500 TV screens or 266 iPhone 13s.
Construction of the device began seven years ago in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be fully completed in May 2023.
The super lens is mounted on a frame in the laboratory. Photo: Jacqueline Ramsier Orel/SLAC الوطني National Accelerator Laboratory
The super lens is 1.65m long and 1.57m in diameter. – Image: Graphics: Luisa Blanco/g1
Vera Rubin Observatory, Chile. Photo: Rubin Obs./NSF/AURA
The lens, which will equip the world’s most powerful camera, is an integral part of the Large Survey Telescope (LSST) project.
The instrument, just over eight meters high, is under construction at the site where the Fira Rubin observatory, above Cerro Passion mountain, in the Andean region of Coquimbo, at 2,715 meters above sea level, will operate in Chile.
The observatory is expected to be fully operational in October 2024.
Scientists stand next to the super lens. – Photo: Farrin Abbott/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
All lens numbers are super: The device will have 189 sensors – each measuring 16mm – that will capture the equivalent of 15 terabytes per night.
The term that is becoming better known to designate external HDS storage, each terabyte corresponds to 1,024 GB.
The heating provided for this activity is so high that the device will have a cooling mechanism capable of lowering the temperature by up to -100°C.
The superlens was transported from Tucson, Arizona, where it was built, to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California. – Photo: Farrin Abbott/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
The placement of the sensors was one of the most critical parts of the construction – not only because of the high cost of each, but because of the risk that poor placement could pose to the final quality of the project.
Compare Riot: “It was like we parked Lamborghinis millimeters away from each other.”
The reproduction of Romanesco – a vegetable associated with broccoli – was the first photograph taken by the superlative lens. – Photo: LSST Camera Team / SLAC / VRO / Carnegie Institution
Although it is able to record galaxies several light-years from Earth, the first image taken by the superlens was much more modest: Romanesco – a lesser-known cousin of broccoli.
The selection was not random.
A text posted on the observatory’s website reads: “The camera team carefully selected the elements for the first photo sequence. One of them is the head of a romantic plant, a plant very close to broccoli and selected for its highly detailed structure.”
According to scientists, the structure of the plant appears as a fractal – a very complex geometric shape, and therefore it is a good camera test.
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