570 megapixel dark energy camera: first pictures

Raymond Daily September 18, 2012 Science

Fermilab has turned on their 570 Megapixel Dark Energy Camera to take some fascinating pictures of the universe accelerating.

570 megapixel camera — The 570 megapixel Dark Energy Camera - featuring 62 charge coupled devices (CCDs) - Credit: Fermilab.

The camera takes a series of shots and they are all ‘stitched' together into one giant image. The DECam has 62 individual ‘cameras' which are all connected together to make one huge sensor based image. Every time a shot is taken, the cameras record a full 2.2 degrees of the sky.

The camera is mounted at the focal point of a 13 foot wide mirror on a telescope in Chile. Over the next five years it will capture a full eighth of the night sky, covering 300 galaxy clusters and 4,000 supernova.

Dvice.com add “Specifically, DECam will be searching for Dark Energy via studies of Type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, galaxy clusters, and weak gravitational lensing, with the hope of eventually being able to identify a cause for the acceleration of the expansion of the universe.”