Big Ideas Lab podcast explores the world’s largest camera

During the next decade, the world’s newest telescope will detect about 20 billion galaxies, representing the first time a telescope will observe more galaxies than there are people on Earth.

LLNL researchers designed the major optical components for the telescope camera, called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera and part of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory facility, in northern Chile.

While the Rubin Observatory work is one of the most recent space science efforts by LLNL scientists and engineers, the Laboratory has been involved for decades in astronomical research, planetary science and instrumentation. Their contributions are featured in the newest episode of the Big Ideas Lab Podcast. Listen on Apple or Spotify.

Working with their industrial partners, LLNL scientists and engineers designed and built six optical filters and three lenses for the telescope’s camera. A key feature of the camera’s optical assemblies are its lenses, one of which is the world’s largest high-performance optical lens ever fabricated, at 5.1 feet (1.57 meters) in diameter. This optical lens was listed in the Guinness World Records.

While many observatories respond to individual research requests, the Rubin Observatory is dedicated to a decade-long sky survey. Every night – for 10 years – it will capture a continuous “movie” of the sky, tracking changes over time.

“The Rubin Observatory is an observatory that is dedicated to doing what’s called a survey, which is very different than other observatories,” said LLNL engineer Vincent Riot, who was the LSST camera manager for four years. “The main reason why it was originally developed is to try to understand dark matter and dark energy.

“The dark matter is trying to explain why things are being pulled toward each other in a way that we can’t see. The dark energy on the other hand is trying to explain why things are moving away from each other,” Riot said.

In the 1990’s, LLNL led a pioneering large-area, optical astronomical survey called the Massive Compact Halo Object, or MACHO, project, a predecessor of the Rubin survey.

“The Lab was one of the pioneering institutions in doing this with the MACHO survey, where we were leading one of the first optical surveys to look for dark matter,” said Megan Eckart, the director of LLNL’s Space Science Institute. “The incredible datasets to come from the Rubin Observatory will change what we know about our solar system and the universe.”

Tune in and turn on the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast to gain a deeper understanding of LLNL’s contributions to the world’s newest major observatory. Listen on Apple or Spotify.