Dark Energy Camera
The 570-megapixel CCD array of the DECam. In use, this sits behind large corrector lenses and the interchangeable filter mechanism image by Fermilab (Image rights) |
The 350 kg Dark Energy Camera or DECam created at Fermilab became the biggest digital camera in the world when it started service in 2012[1] at the 4 -meter Blanco telescope of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. 74 CCD-chips together capture 570-Megapixel-images which need a super-computer to develop each image in 25 seconds. The computer must be cooled down to minus hundred degrees Celsius. Every image will have a file-size of circa 1 GByte. The camera has a multi-element corrector lens, the largest of circa 1 meter diameter.
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