Currently under construction, and depicted here in this illustration, the LSST camera will be the biggest digital camera ever created. Its aperture will stand at nearly five and a half feet.
You've gotta see these pictures showing how it's all coming together...
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Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc.
Big eye
Here's a rendering of where the LSST camera's big eye will be put to work: At the summit of the Chilean mountain Cerro Pachón.
The telescope will be tasked with surveying 37 billion stars and galaxies over the course of a 10-year mission due to begin in 2021.
When completed, the LSST project will scan the southern sky, collecting 15TB of raw data each night, and ultimately shining new light on dark matter, dark energy and more.
This illustration takes us inside, literally, the LSST complex. The world's biggest digital camera will be a major part of a mammoth operation that's engaging scientists worldwide.
A few months later, rebar was laid out for a duplicate pier in Spain. This pier was to be used as a test site for the Chilean-bound telescope mount assembly.
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LSST Project/NSF/AURA
Color coding for mirror
Seen in 2016, these are 24 color-coded components for the LSST's secondary mirror, the M2.
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Harris Corporation/LSST Project /NSF/AURA
Power ring
This is the cell assembly for the 11-foot-five-inch-diameter M2, as seen suspended in its Rochester, NY, test tower in 2017.
The LSST camera's cryostat rear support ring (seen here in 2017) will help keep the focal-plane sensors running at the optimal temperature: 100 degrees below Celsius.
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Andy Freeberg/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
The white-glove treatment
Here's a look at the LSST camera's clean room in Menlo Park during a test session.
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Andy Freeberg/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
In November 2017, another piece of the puzzle came together when the M1M3's surrogate mirror was mounted to its cell at CAID Industries in Tucson, Arizona.
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LSST Project/NSF/AURA
Getting a lift
The LSST project is so big it needs a vertical lift platform to get the job done. This lift was installed at the Chile site in December 2017. It'll move the mirrors and camera, up and down, for maintenance.
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Adam Berry/Getty Images
Money from billionaires
In the works since the turn of the 21st century, the LSST project got a $10 million boost from Bill Gates in 2008.
The Microsoft founder was taken by plans to share the telescope's data with the public. "LSST is truly an internet telescope," he said.
Discuss: Large Synoptic Survey Telescope: Photos of the world's biggest digital camera
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