Jaw-Dropping First Images from the 3.2 Trillion Pixel Camera | Vera C. Rubin Observatory

[tyroneweaver]

3.2 trillion pixels. thats one hell of a brownie

 

[TNHarley]

Thats so awesome! Thanks

 

[1srelluc]

OK, so we already know all that is up there so how does it help mankind?

Whelp, there goes our asteroid collision budget.

 

[trevorjohnson83]

what do they do with our old camera phones? I suppose they are in a giant pile somewhere, and so to will be all these telescopes someday, in a pile somewhere, for a rat to call home.

 

[scruffy]

what do they do with our old camera phones? I suppose they are in a giant pile somewhere, and so to will be all these telescopes someday, in a pile somewhere, for a rat to call home.

Cleanup costs are usually included in the build budget for the next project.

 

[LuckyDuck01!]

To me, it's just showing more pics of a large amount of stars in the night sky. Nothing new. If we could ever get close up pics of exoplanets, that would be of interest.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

OK, so we already know all that is up there so how does it help mankind?

Knowledge for the sake of knowledge always helps mankind.

 

[trevorjohnson83]

they should use this high pixel camera along with the parallax view to estimate distance better

 

[toobfreak]

To me, it's just showing more pics of a large amount of stars in the night sky. Nothing new. If we could ever get close up pics of exoplanets, that would be of interest.

Well, you kind of hit on it. From what I can see, this camera is not actually showing more resolution of anything I've seen before, maybe not even as much, still good resolution, what this camera appears to be is a very wide field camera.

Most WF cameras sacrifice quality for quantity. This one is quality AND quantity.

The Vera Rubin telescope is probably an aplanatic telescope like a Ritchey-Chretien, and the size of the sensor in this camera (and the reason for its massive size) is because they've put together one massive, high-resolution sensor, so that it can take a high-res picture of a very large field at a time that would normally take many exposures to attain with a lesser camera.

Why? To see better and faster a high quality view of the entire sky. The quicker they can build up a hi-res wide field, the more they increase their chances of seeing any object of interest (like an approaching asteroid coming for the Earth) farther away.

 

[fncceo]

OK, so we already know all that is up there so how does it help mankind?

They're coming to sort out our planet ... and makes sure the banks are run correctly.

 

[1srelluc]

They're coming to sort out our planet ... and makes sure the banks are run correctly.

View attachment 1197974

Nah, these guys....It's all about the profits.