Recently, the researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have taken the first largest-ever pictures, which are actually 3200-megapixel digital photos taken through an array of extraordinary sensors that are becoming a part of the world’s largest digital camera of Vera C. Rubin Observatory. According to sources, this camera will be installed in the university’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time telescope which is present in Chile, and which is dedicated to studying dark matter, dark energy, and with the help of this digital camera, it will create the largest astronomical movie, one of its kind. This is going to be a feat that has never been achieved before by anyone else.
These photos are humongous! One photo needs 378 4K Ultra-High definition TV Screen to be displayed to its full size. And the pictures are going to be so clear and the resolution is going to be so high that a small object, the size of a golf ball could be visible from a distance of 15 miles. Not only this, but this camera will also capture extremely small particles and dim objects, which other cameras cannot. An object that is 100 times dimmer than visible with the naked eye will also be captured by the high-powered sensors of this camera.
These sensors are a total of 189 in number, and each of them measures 16 megapixels. They are called Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) which are packed into units called Rafts. There are twenty-one functioning rafts and four rafts not designated for imaging. These rafts together make the camera’s focal plane, which in totality, contains 3.2 billion pixels. These rafts are inserted into a grid for the focal plane in a special arrangement and it took more than six months for the researchers and developers to arrange them so. Each raft individually worth more than $3 million.
These 3200-megapixel pictures are part of the first test of these sensors, and more tests are going to be carried out soon. The camera is going through its developmental phase and will need some time before more tests will be carried out and more unique features will be surveyed. Final testing is expected to begin in the mid of the year 2021, and with so many higher stakes behind this project, the researchers must be extremely diligent in performing their tasks to perfection.
Read next: Google Can Now Recreate Landmarks In 3D With Crowdsourced Photos Only
These photos are humongous! One photo needs 378 4K Ultra-High definition TV Screen to be displayed to its full size. And the pictures are going to be so clear and the resolution is going to be so high that a small object, the size of a golf ball could be visible from a distance of 15 miles. Not only this, but this camera will also capture extremely small particles and dim objects, which other cameras cannot. An object that is 100 times dimmer than visible with the naked eye will also be captured by the high-powered sensors of this camera.
These sensors are a total of 189 in number, and each of them measures 16 megapixels. They are called Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) which are packed into units called Rafts. There are twenty-one functioning rafts and four rafts not designated for imaging. These rafts together make the camera’s focal plane, which in totality, contains 3.2 billion pixels. These rafts are inserted into a grid for the focal plane in a special arrangement and it took more than six months for the researchers and developers to arrange them so. Each raft individually worth more than $3 million.
These 3200-megapixel pictures are part of the first test of these sensors, and more tests are going to be carried out soon. The camera is going through its developmental phase and will need some time before more tests will be carried out and more unique features will be surveyed. Final testing is expected to begin in the mid of the year 2021, and with so many higher stakes behind this project, the researchers must be extremely diligent in performing their tasks to perfection.
Read next: Google Can Now Recreate Landmarks In 3D With Crowdsourced Photos Only
