The world’s largest camera was built for scientific discovery, but as the Vera C. Robin Observatory begins its decade-long survey of the night sky, the researchers are calling the work both scientific and a “blockbuster movie of the Universe.”

The Vera C. Rubin’s record-breaking size and resolution are the result of two decades of research and engineering, but on June 30, the camera’s ten-year survey of the night sky officially began.

The ultra-high definition, ultrawide-angle camera has begun creating a time-lapse of the night sky, which researchers expect will continue for a decade. “Today, we begin filming the greatest cosmic movie ever made,” said Brian Stone, the Chief of Staff, currently performing the duties of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Director.

Deputy Director of Rubin Operations for SLAC echoed a similar theme of the observatory’s impact on both science and technology. “It’s taken 20 years of hard science, engineering, and more to get to the point where we can call ‘action’ as we start rolling on this blockbuster movie of the Universe,” Marshal said. “Millions of alerts in just the last couple of months show that Rubin is up and running as a discovery machine. Now we’re putting it all together.”

Located on a mountain in Chile, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is operated by the NSF’s NOIRLab and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory took its first 3,200 megapixel photograph of the universe last June as part of the initial testing, but now the massive 6,200-pound / 2800 kg camera has officially begun its ten-year time-lapse of the night sky.

NOIRLab calls the observatory “the most powerful Solar System discovery machine ever built.” The Legacy of Time and Space Survey’s anticipated scientific contributions stem from both the tech behind the camera and the camera’s ten-year survey that could map out changes in the night sky over the next decade.

The observatory is now capturing one photo of the southern sky about every 40 seconds overnight. While the survey will pause for unfavorable conditions such as cloud cover, the system is expected to take around a thousand images every night for the next ten years. That’s about ten terabytes of data every night in operation.

Researchers believe that the camera’s high resolution and ultra-wide lens will uncover details about the universe not previously observed by earlier technology. During just the month and a half of early surveys to prep for the decade-long survey, researchers noted that Rubin had spotted more than 11,000 asteroids that had never been spotted before.

Software will help sift through the massive amounts of data, with researchers estimating that the system could send as many as seven million alerts each night.

The observatory’s early images are available to explore online.

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About the size of a car, the largest digital camera ever built has begun capturing high-resolution images of outer space – and the first images are mesmerizing. On June 23, the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory revealed the first images ever captured by the 3,200 megapixel, 6,200 pound / 2800 kg camera.

The first images are the result of just ten hours of observation during the new observatory’s test phase. Beginning later this year, the camera is expected to create a ten-year time-lapse of the night sky.

The first images include a shot shared in a Skyviewer app that allows space fans and photo gear nerds alike to pan around and zoom in on the image. In just those initial 10 hours of recording, the camera has already managed to capture millions of galaxies and stars, along with thousands of asteroids. Using the app, viewers can zoom in for detail on galaxies and other space phenomena that are thousands of light years from Earth.

The Vera C. Runin Observatory, which is a joint effort by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science, has also shared a shot that combined 678 images taken over several hours into an image of the clouds of gas and dust around the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula.

The observatory said that the first images encompass only around .05 percent of the 20 billion galaxies that the camera is expected to capture during its ten-year time-lapse project, which is called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

Organizers say that the new camera offers unprecedented depth and clarity, opening up possibilities for discoveries in observing the night sky. The observatory is located on the Cerro Pachón in Chile, where the mountain’s elevation, dry air, and dark skies aid in observing the night sky.

Constructing the camera was a team effort from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The 3,200 megapixel camera is expected to capture 20 terabytes of data per night, which over ten years will amount to 500 petabytes, which is 500,000 terabytes.

The camera’s lens alone is more than five feet (1.57m) across, projecting images onto 201 custom CCD sensors. SLAC Professor and Rubin Observatory Deputy Director and Camera Program Lead Aaron Roodman explained that that’s enough to photograph a golf ball from 15 miles away.

The camera is paired with the Simonyi Survey Telescope, which uses three mirrors – the primary mirror being 27.5 feet / 8.4 m – to look at the night sky.

The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s first images are the result of nearly 20 years of planning and ten years of construction.

The first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory are available to explore from the Skyviewer app.

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The world's biggest camera, capable of delivering 3200 megapixel image of the night sky, is about to show us its first-ever images. The monster camera, which is housed at the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile, is said to be able to see a golf ball from 15 miles away. On June 23 the first images from its ultra-definition sensor will be made public for the first time.

This moment has been a long time coming. We started reporting on this monster camera back in 2019, when the giant lens for the camera, which measures 5 metres across, was being assembled at SLAC, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, in California. The camera will capture 1000 images a night over the next 10 years, with the project's mission being to catalog 20 billion galaxies.

The First Look event at the observatory next week will unveil "a set of large, ultra-high-definition images and videos that showcase Rubin’s extraordinary capabilities to the world for the first time", we are told. "This will mark the beginning of a new era in astronomy and astrophysics".

The event will be shown live on the Vera C Rubin Observatory's YouTube channel and on its website at 11am (Eastern Daylight Time) / 4pm (British Summer Time) on Monday, June 23, 2025.

Hundreds of venues around the world will also be hosting watch parties that include a public viewing of the live stream. Check out the Rubin First Look Watch Party website to find out if there is a location near you.

Some of our earlier stories on the Vera C Rubin telescope's camera:

• The car-sized camera that can see a golf ball from 15 miles away is nearly ready to start taking epic images of the galaxy

• World's biggest camera now ready to shoot 3,200-megapixel photos of outer space

The world’s largest digital camera ever made has now been installed and could start photographing the galaxy as early as next month. The Legacy of Space and Time (LSST) is a car-sized, 3,200MP camera designed to detect faint celestial objects as it captures a decade-long timelapse.

The camera has now finished the installation process at the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile and is ready to begin final testing before capturing its first celestial images.

The LSST camera completed construction in April of 2024, but moving the world’s largest digital camera (which weighs over 3,000 kilograms / 6,000 pounds) proved to be a long and complex process.

Bringing the camera from where it was manufactured, in California, to the observatory in Chile required a chartering 747 airplane to bring the camera along with ten truckloads of gear to the facility. The camera then underwent months of testing in a clean room at the observatory. In March 2025, the crew lifted the camera into place on the SImonyi Survey Telescope, bringing the camera’s nearly 20-year-long development to near conclusion.

With the camera installed, the next step is to finish testing and fine-tuning before the LSST takes its first images then embarks on the ten-year timelapse. Those early images could come as early as next month, according to LSST camera project leader Aaron Roodman. Researchers are hoping to use the camera to study dark matter and how galaxies form, along with gathering information about the Milky Way and the solar system.

Beyond being just the largest digital camera ever made, the LSST uses an 8.4-meter primary and tertiary mirror along with a 3.5-meter secondary mirror in the observatory's optical system. That optical design, along with the 3200MP resolution, is expected to enable the camera to capture faint objects.

The camera’s capabilities are said to be strong enough to see a golf ball from 15 miles away, with experts expecting the project to lead to discoveries from asteroids to supernova explosions.

The LSST is expected to capture hundreds of images of the night sky every night for ten years, with those images then being used to create a historic timelapse. Those 3 billion-pixel images are so detailed that viewing one in full resolution would take a wall of 400 UltraHD TVs.

The project is a joint effort between the US National Science Foundation and US Department of Energy Office of Science. The Rubin Observatory is operated by the NSF NOIRLab (managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy) and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (managed by Stanford University) and receives contributions from more than 40 organizations in 28 countries.

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The mood in the Vera C. Rubin Observatory was “electric” as Rubin’s first on-sky data was captured by the test camera and transferred successfully from the observatory in Chile to the US Data Facility in SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California.

The success in passing its first end-to-end engineer test using a low-resolution testing camera known as the Commissioning Camera demonstrates that Rubin Observatory now has a complete and functioning telescope.

The light from the stars traveled directly through the telescope optics and was then captured by the Rubin’s Commissioning Camera, then appearing on the Rubin teams’ computer screen as a digital image.

The Commissioning Camera was designed to be physically the same size as the planned LSST Camera, but the detector itself is about 20 times smaller: just 144 megapixels compared to the 3200-megapixel science camera. The test camera will enable the Rubin team to verify key components of the system and resolve issues before installation of the actual camera that will be used for science.

The Commissioning Camera will soon be replaced with the much higher resolution Large Synoptic Survey Camera (LSST), the largest digital camera ever built, which Rubin Observatory will use to conduct the most comprehensive data-gathering mission in the history of astronomy – the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Rubin is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

After two decades of planning, the LSST touched down in Chile in May this year. The camera will be fitted to the telescope in early 2025, and following a six-month commissioning period,

This incredibly important step brings us closer to the start of Rubin’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time, which will transform scientists' ability to explore the cosmos.

The process of taking Rubin’s first data with the Commissioning Camera began well before sunset, with the team readying the telescope, dome, and mirrors.

They were busy conducting twilight calibrations while the sunset, then pointed the telescopes towards a bright star to confirm pointing and focus. At 9:53pm local time in Chile, with a fully dark sky, the team programmed the Commissioning Camera to take a 30-second exposure.

According to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, named after the female astronomer who discovered dark matter, this successful experiment: “Will revolutionize our quest to explore the cosmos. Rubin will create the ultimate movie of the night sky using the largest camera ever built — repeatedly scanning the sky for a decade to create an ultra-wide ultra-high-definition time-lapse record.

“This unique movie will bring the night sky to life, yielding a treasure trove of discoveries: asteroids and comets, pulsating stars, and supernova explosions. With Rubin data we will all understand our Universe better, chronicle its evolution, delve into the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter, and reveal answers to questions we have yet to imagine.”

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The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Camera, the largest ever built, has completed its journey from California to the summit of Cerro Pachón, Chile, where it will be installed in the Vera C Rubin Observatory. 

The LSST is a groundbreaking instrument that took two decades to build, and will now take up its residency in the observatory – which has been jointly founded by the US National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy’s Office. 

Once installed, the camera will be an integral tool in the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, beginning in late 2025, taking massive detailed images of the southern hemisphere sky for a decade. 

The project is part of Rubin Observatory’s mission to solve longstanding scientific mysteries of the sky, building the most comprehensive timelapse view of our universe that anyone has ever seen. 

The highly sensitive camera will be able to produce detailed images with a field of view seven times wider than the full moon, and will fuel advances and discoveries in many areas of science. The camera will potentially be able to explore the nature of dark matter and dark energy, map the Milky Way and survey the solar system.

"The arrival of the cutting-edge LSST Camera in Chile brings us a huge step closer to science that will address today's most pivotal questions in astrophysics," said Kathy Turner, DOE’s program manager for Rubin Observatory.

Safe in its custom-built container, the truck-sized LSST Camera was transported on a 747 cargo plane, then loaded onto multiple vehicles, before arriving at the summit of Cerro Pachón, where it was given a thorough inspection by the observatory team.

"Our goal was to make sure the camera not only survived, but arrived in perfect condition," said Kevin Reil, Observatory Scientist at Rubin. "Initial indications, including the data collected by the data loggers, accelerometers, and shock sensors suggest we were successful."

Read more about the construction of the LSST camera

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The world's biggest camera, fitted with the world's biggest lens, is now ready to use. The culmination of a 20 year project, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera is destined to be used at the new Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile. When installed, it will shoot 1000 3,200 megapixel photographs every night for ten years.

The camera, which weighs three tons and is the size of a small car, has been built at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University, California. The front of the lens measures over five feet  (1.57m) across. The focal plane is made up of 201 individual custom-designed CCD sensors, and it is so flat that it varies by no more than a tenth the width of a human hair. The pixels themselves are 10 microns wide.

"Its images are so detailed that it could resolve a golf ball from around 15 miles away, while covering a swath of the sky seven times wider than the full moon," explains SLAC professor and Rubin Observatory Deputy Director and Camera Program Lead Aaron Roodman. "These images with billions of stars and galaxies will help unlock the secrets of the universe.” Scientists aim to use the camera to discover more about dark matter and dark energy, and to explore the Milky Way.

The LSST will now be transported from the USA to the Andes, where it will be used in conjunction with the Simonyi Survey Telescope within the Vera C Rubin Observatory, situated on 8,900-foot-high Cerro Pachón mountain, about 285 miles (460 km) north of Santiago.

• The world's first 3.2 gigapixel camera is one step closer to completion
• World's largest digital camera sensor is equivalent to 266 iPhones
• World's largest digital camera expected to shoot the Milky Way

The world's largest digital camera sensor is now nearing operation, with the final touches being put together on the mechanical assembly, we are edging ever closer to the first camera tests.

The sensor records a 3,200-megapixel image. Now that is 3.2 billion individual pixels, to reiterate, billion. The iPhone 14 has a 12-megapixel main sensor, which is paltry in comparison, 12 million individual pixels. So for the same resolution, it would require the combined sensors of 266 iPhones!

The world's largest sensor naturally comes with the world's largest camera. The camera lens measures 1.65m tall, which is taller than most family sedan cars, and when you include the mirror it adds an additional 7.6m. And although not at huge risk of being knocked about in a kit bag, the camera also has the official honor of having the world's largest lens cap. 

At the Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile, and part of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) project, the project's mission is to catalog 20 billion galaxies over the next 10 years, which will help to further scientists' understanding of the mysteries around dark matter and the formation of galaxies. The observatory is nestled deep in the Andes mountains which thanks to the earth's curvature provides optimal angles to capture the skies and minimal light pollution.

New Scientist has made a video demonstrating the sheer size and scale of the sensor and camera which you can watch below:

If you are looking for the highest-megapixel consumer camera that is reasonably accessible to most people, then you're probably looking at the Fujifilm GFX 100, which measures 100 megapixels. For context, you'll have to try imagining sticking 32 of these next to each other.

So how big is the sensor? The Vera Rubin camera sensor is 64cm wide in total. This is approximately 18.3 times larger than a 35mm full-frame camera sensor. This really puts the endless full-frame vs APS-C debate in perspective. 

The sensor uses 189 individual CCD sensors, which are separated into 21 "rafts," these are subunits each made up of individual 16-megapixel sensors, there are also several peripheral rafts, that are used to measure guidance and focus.

If you want to view these images this sensor can produce in full resolution you might be out of luck, as a 100% magnification would require 378 connected 4K monitors. In fact, this resolution is so high definition that you can pick out a golf ball from 25 kilometers (15 miles) away.

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The world’s largest camera with a 3,200-megapixel sensor is one step closer to being sent to its new home at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. For the last seven years, scientists and engineers have worked to develop and build a camera that will form the heart of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time telescope and hopefully help us to better understand dark matter and dark energy which make up about 95% of the universe. 

Named after the American astronomer Vera Rubin, the camera of the LSST telescope has now been fitted with 189 science sensors which are placed into specially built, highly precise rafts costing up to $3 million dollars. Each raft is made up of 9 sensors, capable of outputting a 16MP image and four corner rafts enable the telescope to focus and move with the earth's rotation. It took six, long months just to install the sensors which have no more than the width of 5 human hairs between them. One small error during the construction would’ve meant a big setback and a massive waste of money so precision was key.

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With the camera’s mechanisms now fully assembled and the lens ready to do, the next stage in the process is to finish the setup of this Gigapixel camera. Once it's ready, it will be shipped to an altitude of 8,700ft at Carron Pachón where observation conditions are optimal. 

“We’re at the stage where we’ve got all the camera’s mechanisms fully assembled,” says Hannah Pollek, a staff engineer at SLAC.

When set up, the telescope will be able to capture a 3.5-degree section of the sky and will take two back-to-back exposures, both roughly 15 seconds long. During its service, it will catalog over 90% of near-Earth objects that are more than 300m wide plus a further 10,000 primitive objects in the Kuiper Belt - a donut-shaped ring of icy objects that acts as a fossil record for the solar system. Data recorded will be sent directly to the National Virtual Observatory ready for astronomers and the public who want to see images from deep space

Within the next year, it is hoped the camera will be transported to its new home in Chile but there are some fine tweaks and final tests to be done. 

2001

The initial proposal for the LSST telescope was submitted and six years later in 2007, construction of the mirror began thanks to private funds.

2006

The site at El Peñón of Cerro Pachón mountain was selected to be the location of the telescope due to the number of clear nights it has per year, seasonal weather patterns and the quality of images as seen through the local atmosphere. The telescope will sit at 2,682m and 100km away in the town of La Serena is the LSST Base Facility. 

2010

Alongside the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, LSST becomes one of the top-ranked, ground-based projects for studying dark energy and dark matter. 

2014

On 1 August, the National Science Foundation authorized $27.5 million of funding for the construction of the telescope.

2015

Construction of the telescope began at Cerro Pachón with a ceremonial laying of the first stone.

2017

Around 72% of the camera was complete and the project was on track to stay within budget and on schedule.

2018

With construction underway and the shell of the summit building complete it was time to start installing the inner workings such as a HVAC system. the dome, mirror coating chamber and the telescope mount. Back at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the cryostat (a device used for monitoring and maintaining temperature) has been completed, the lenses ground and 12 of the 21 CCB Sensor rafts had been delivered ready to be fitted. 

2020

Work at both the SLAC site and Cerro Pachón were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, work on software still continued and the commissioning camera arrived at the base facility in La Serena. 

2021

The final six filters needed for the camera were finished and delivered and by November, the camera had been cooled to its final operating temperature so rigorous testing began.

2022

Now the camera is fully assembled with the lens, sensors, cryostat and utility trunk it is ready to be shipped to its final destination following successful lab tests. There are still specialized filters to install but using the camera's special filter carousel it takes just minutes.

2024

It is hoped that by 2024, the 2.2 gigapixel camera will be assembled and working at the site in Cerro Pachón and ready to photograph deep space.

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The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST for short) is the name given to the world's largest digital camera in existence, boasting an astronomical 3.2 gigapixels of resolution. The purpose of this device will be to survey the stars capturing images that can tell us more about the milky way and the nature of dark matter. 

Measuring roughly 5.5 x 9.8 feet  and weighing almost a whopping 6,200 pounds, the camera is positioned in the middle of the telescope including its own filter-changing mechanism and shutter. It is a large-aperture, wide-field optical imager, designed to provide a 3.5-degree field of view.

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Development of the beastly camera has been underway for several years, with complications due to the pandemic having added an unfortunate delay. (Read our previous news update on the world's largest camera). However, the scheduled transportation and installation will yield results as early as 2022 and produce an unprecedented data set for studies of the deep universe.

Currently residing in California, the colossal camera is set to be relocated for installation at a mountaintop in Chile – specifically the Vera C Rubin Observatory, which was previously referred to as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. This will enable the LSST to be put to intensive work scanning the southern sky, capturing images that will provide astrophysicists with a complete regional portrait of the sky roughly once a week. 

By collecting data on the shapes, colors and whereabouts of objects in space, images taken by the LSST every 15 seconds will permit researchers to monitor near-earth asteroids and the potential to discover entirely new cosmos phenomena. The camera is also enabled to record the time evolution of these sources, creating potentially the first ever motion picture of our universe. 

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Pictures of what are claimed to be the largest-ever photographic lens have been released... and it sure is a whopper. The lens measures 1.57 meters, or 5.1 feet, in diameter and has been designed for use at the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which is currently being constructed in Chile, where it will be mounted in front a camera with a 3,200 megapixel sensor.

Called L-1, the lens is currently at SLAC, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, in California, which is assembling the super-resolution camera for the telescope. The lens is mounted with a smaller companion lens (1.2 meters / 3.9 feet in diameter) in a carbon fiber structure. Both lenses have been designed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and have been built over the past five years by Boulder, Colorado-based Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. and its subcontractor, Tucson-based Arizona Optical Systems.

 The camera is budgeted to cost $168 million and is more than 90 percent complete; it is due to be finished by early 2021. A third and final lens is due to be delivered to SLAC in the next few weeks. 

The 8.4-meter LSST telescope will take digital images of the entire visible southern sky every few nights. During a 10-year time frame, LSST is expected to detect about 20 billion galaxies — observing more galaxies than there are people on Earth – and will create a time-lapse movie of the sky.

This data is designed help researchers better understand dark matter and dark energy, which together make up 95 percent of the universe, but whose makeup remains unknown, as well as study the formation of galaxies, track potentially hazardous asteroids and observe exploding stars.

The telescope’s camera — the size of a small car and weighing more than three tons — will capture full-sky images at such high resolution that it would take 1,500 high-definition television screens to display just one picture.

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