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back to article All pixels go: World's biggest sky-gazing camera gets final sign-off

Having won its final funding approval during 2014, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope has now been granted government approval to start construction. The 3.2 gigapixel camera will be built at the US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Lab. Its boffins have been celebrating “Critical Decision 3”, the last major …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "nearly 10 square degrees of"

    Square degrees Reg?

    Really?

    What the hell is a "square degree" in temporal intercontinental linguines?

    2 1 Reply
    1. Six_Degrees
      Reply Icon

      Re: "nearly 10 square degrees of"

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_degree

      4 1 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "nearly 10 square degrees of"

      What the hell is a "square degree" in temporal intercontinental linguines?

      Would that not have to be square temporal intercontinental linguines?

      5 0 Reply
    3. Richard Tobin
      Reply Icon

      Re: "nearly 10 square degrees of"

      10 square degrees is right, as the linked SLAC page confirms. What the article currently says - '"almost 10 square degrees of sky" on each side' - is drivel.

      0 1 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Yeah, but

    Any rumours about Samsung fitting it to the Galaxy S8??

    4 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yeah, but

      Yes, but only for the Jim'll Fixit version.

      0 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    The worry must be that by the time they've finished the camera, phones will have better resolution.

    2 0 Reply
    1. Ragequit
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      RE: ...phones will have better resolution.

      Except being able to zoom in on selfies on facebook to the point where you can see every nose hair, black head, and blood vessel is only interesting for a, as yet unnamed, special breed of stalker. Dark matter indeed.

      0 0 Reply
  4. m0rt

    Cokin Filter

    That is one hell of a Cokin filter setup...

    3 0 Reply
    1. Fred Flintstone Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Cokin Filter

      Love the animation, though. Simple and effective.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Cokin Filter

        Reminded me of those old Pro 4 Filter systems. I remember my friend had one for her Bronica.

        0 0 Reply
      2. imanidiot Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Cokin Filter

        I do hope the lens gantry moves completely clear of the camera if they do unfiltered exposures.

        I also wonder how much contamination a moving system like that creates on lenses and filters, must be a pain to keep clean

        2 0 Reply
  5. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Coat

    3.2 gigapixel camera

    That's going to put the smackdown on smug cameraphone types for a few years . . .

    1 0 Reply
    1. DocJames
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: 3.2 gigapixel camera

      No no, Apple will do that next year. I heard from my friend who works for them.

      A Fanboi.

      1 1 Reply
      1. Lionel Baden
        Reply Icon
        Joke

        Re: 3.2 gigapixel camera

        @docjames.

        Dont be so naive, Apple have done this already and will patent it soon enough.

        0 1 Reply
      2. Named coward
        Reply Icon

        Re: 3.2 gigapixel camera

        and then they will patent it and sue the US Department of Energy for having similarly rounded lenses!

        1 0 Reply
  6. NanoMeter

    No need for zoom

    They just use the lossless digital zoom, which is nothing more than cropping the the parts of the photo they want.

    1 0 Reply
  7. Hilmi Al-kindy
    Thumb Up

    Technology usually trickles down to consumers in a few years.

    And I thought my 38 arc-minutes at 8.3 megapixel was a nice field of view for taking pictures of the sky. Bummer, time to change telescopes and camera... I can never keep up with these guys.

    On a more serious note. My setup 20 to 30 years ago would have been considered an enviable tool even for NASA. Technology does tend to trickle down. Although my adaptive optics unit is still a piece junk that fails half the time. It is still fascinating that I can have an adaptive optics unit at home.

    5 0 Reply
  8. Tromos
    Joke

    D'Oh!

    They forgot to include a flash for night time photography!

    13 0 Reply
    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: D'Oh!

      I hear they're working on a plan to trigger a gamma ray burst. They just need to find a spare supercomputer to caclulate the guide number.

      0 0 Reply
  9. Stephen 1

    What about the Northern sky?

    When do we get one of these?

    0 0 Reply
    1. NanoMeter
      Reply Icon

      Re: What about the Northern sky?

      Cool astronomy telescopes are reserved for the southern sky. On the other hand, we who live in the northern sky got rocket launches and stuff. That's just as cool!

      0 0 Reply
      1. Somerset John
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        Re: What about the Northern sky?

        It's only the size of a small car and around 3 tons. I wonder how long before they put something similar in orbit. Upgrade for the JWT perhaps?

        0 0 Reply

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