New Mexico Star Retires to Smithsonian
Call it the astronomer helper. Since 1998, the giant digital camera that has been the heart of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has done many things. It has helped identify over half a billion new astronomical objects to study. Now the camera that captured the largest color image of sky is ready to retire.
That image, which would require 500,000 high-definition television sets to see at full resolution, only accounts for one-third of the sky. Yet the archiving and study of the images will keep scientists going for years.
A sampling of the largest color photo of the universe ever made
And the camera leaves a legacy in the form of an interactive website where professional and amateur stargazers can study the billions of images the camera snapped during its many years of service.
Now it’s heading to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. where it will become a museum attraction after making astronomy history. For 12 years scientists lugged the three-foot tall, 1,200-pound camera every night and attached it to a telescope that was scanning the night sky.
It will be replaced by an infrared camera to help scientists get a better picture of what’s going on in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
“It’s done a tremendous job for us and for the astronomy community as a whole.” — Mark Kleane, director of the project at Apache Point Observatory in Sun Spot, New Mexico.
Leave a Reply
