World’s largest digital camera unveiled! Clicks photos equal to 266 iPhone 14 Pro

Engineers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the USA have finally unveiled the world’s largest digital camera LSST (‘Large Synoptic Survey Telescope’). The project that started out a couple of years ago aims to put the camera up on an observatory in the Chilean Andes. Although the camera isn’t functional yet, all of the components have been assembled into an operable frame. Its composite sensor uses 189 different CCD sensors.

What is the LSST Camera?

The LSST or the ‘Large Synoptic Survey Telescope’ is a digital camera placed onto the El Penon peak of Cerro Pachon, a 2,682-meter-high mountain in the Coquimbo Region, in northern Chile. Cerro Pachon is believed to be one of the best places on earth for an observatory and also hosts the Gemini South and Southern Astrophysical Research Telescopes.

LSST camera composition

It comprises 189 CCD sensors i.e, charge-coupled device is an integrated circuit that has an array of linked or coupled, capacitors. CCD sensors are a major technology used in ultra-high resolution cameras that are combined with super-telephoto lenses. LSST uses physical filters that block out certain wavelengths.

Resolution of the LSST camera

The LSST camera’s sensor measures 16mm diagonally. Each sensor is said to have a pixel density that is higher than that of the latest iPhone 14 Pro. The overall resolution of the composite sensor is 3.2 Gigapixels or 3200 Megapixels which is more than 266 iPhone 14 Pros combined.

Further, the sensor has been paired with a super-telephoto lens with a diameter of 1.57 meters, making it the biggest lens of its kind to be ever created. From where it will be placed on earth, the LSST camera can take a photo of a dust particle on the surface of the moon.