Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope ( LSST ) is a proposed reflecting telescope with a large field of view, which the accessible sky can fully take pictures in three nights. Construction began in 2011, first light is for 2019Vorlage: Future / planned in 5 years, the final completion in early 2022.Vorlage: Future / In 5 years

Location of the telescope will be the 2682 meter high El Peñón summit of Cerro Pachón in northern Chile. In neighboring the Gemini South telescope, SOAR telescope and the CTIO telescopes.

Compared to other telescopes of this size, the LSST stands by its very large field of view with a diameter of 3.5 ° out ( the moon and the sun have on the earth viewed from a diameter of about 0.5 °). With its large aperture of 8 meters, an extraordinary etendue of 318 m2degree2.

The director of the LSST is Anthony Tyson. Operator is the LSST Corporation, an American non-profit company based in Tucson, Arizona. Funding is provided by various U.S. institutions and universities.

Optics

To achieve the wide angle of view, there is a three-mirror telescope. Said primary mirror has a diameter of 8.4 m, and is made ​​in one piece; in this and the tertiary mirror having a diameter of 5.0 m is incorporated, which is surrounded by the primary mirror annular. Above it is the secondary mirror with a diameter of 3.4 m.

The image is recorded by a 3.2 - billion -pixel camera with a diameter of 64 cm, a three-lens corrector before the sitting. The largest lens has a diameter of 162 cm. In the corrector different color filters can be used to investigate certain spectra.

Scientific Objectives

In consideration of maintenance time and weather conditions it is expected that the telescope can make 200,000 admissions per year. The objectives are mainly:

• The mapping of small objects in the solar system, particularly near-Earth asteroids and objects from the Kuiper belt;
• The observation of short-term events such as novae and supernovae;
• The mapping of the Milky Way.

It is expected that LSST about 10 billion stars and 10 billion galaxies detected and that because of this huge amount of data carried out a series of unexpected discoveries. A selection of shots ( up to 30 terabytes per night ) is to be released by Google as a star chart to be updated.