The LSST is a new kind of telescope. Currently under construction in Chile, the LSST is designed to conduct a ten-year survey of the dynamic universe. LSST can map the entire visible sky in just a few nights; each panoramic snapshot with the 3200-megapixel camera covers an area 40 times the size of the full moon.
Images will be immediately analyzed to identify objects that have change or moved: from exploding supernovae on the other side of the Universe to asteroids that might impact the Earth.
In the ten-year survey lifetime, LSST will map tens of billions of stars and galaxies. With this map, scientists will explore the structure of the Milky Way, determine the properties of dark energy and dark matter, and make discoveries that we have not yet imagined.
Scientists in the US and Chile, LSST’s International Affiliates, and the general public are invited to share in this voyage of discovery. What will you find?
