First images unveiled from world’s largest camera, built in the Bay Area

Images from the world s largest camera built in the Bay Area have just been issued for the first time providing a never-before-seen look into deep space A decade in the making at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park the million -pound camera with a lens five feet across was completed last spring It was shipped in a secretive intricately orchestrated mission to a ridge-top observatory in Chile feet above sea level SLAC s camera project manager Travis Lange commented last year the -megapixel camera would revolutionize astronomy The telescope inside the closed dome of the NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory Photo courtesy of NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory The telescope inside the dome of the NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory Photo courtesy of NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory Show Caption of The telescope inside the closed dome of the NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory Photo courtesy of NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory Expand Related Articles When is the summer solstice in and what does it mean Astronomers create a dazzling elaborate map of nearby galaxy in thousands of colors Astronomers discover strange new celestial object in our Milky Way galaxy Einstein called it his biggest blunder Now a Berkeley Lab breakthrough is shedding light on the mysteries of dark force and cosmic expansion Partial solar eclipse to make sun shrink for multiple in North America sorry California The first images to be distributed that were captured by the world's biggest camera built at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park and mounted on a telescope in Chile This image shows another small section of NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory's total view of the Virgo cluster Visible are two prominent spiral galaxies lower right three merging galaxies upper right several groups of distant galaxies various stars in the Milky Way galaxy and more Photo courtesy of NSF-DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory The camera now bolted to the end of a giant telescope at the Rubin Observatory is expected to shoot photos of billion galaxies to be stitched together in broad panoramas giving astronomers ever-changing views onto colliding and exploding stars and asteroids and provide insights into interstellar mysteries including dark vitality and dark matter SLAC with its famous linear accelerator used to find the tiniest particles in the universe is known for building large sophisticated machines using X-rays lasers and electron beams to untangle enigmas on earth and in the cosmos Additional information and images from the camera are to be disclosed Monday Check back on this evolving story