September 3rd 05, 01:47 AM
LARGE SYNOPTIC SURVEY TELESCOPE RECEIVES $14.2 MILLION
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT AWARD
(Forwarded from the LSST Corp., by UA Office of University
Communications)
September 2, 2005
------------------------------------
Contact information listed at end of release
-------------------------------------
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope has received the first year of a
four-year, $14.2 million award with the National Science Foundation to
design and develop a world-class 8.4-meter (27-foot) telescope
scheduled for
completion in 2012.
This award will allow engineers and scientists to complete design work
already underway so that the LSST can begin construction in 2009. This
unique system for surveying the heavens is made possible by advances in
several technologies including:
o Large optics fabrication to create the telescope's distinctive
3-mirror design which includes a convex 4-meter secondary mirror, the
size
of many primary mirrors on today's large research telescopes.
o Data management systems to process and catalog the 30 terabytes
of
data generated nightly, the equivalent of 7,000 DVDs.
o New detectors needed to build LSST's 3-billion-pixel digital
camera, the largest ever created.
The LSST will image an area of the sky roughly 50 times that of the
full
moon every 15 seconds, opening a movie-like window on objects that
change or
move on rapid time scales. Such objects include supernovae explosions
which
can be seen halfway across the universe, nearby asteroids which might
potentially strike Earth, and faint objects in the outer solar system
far
beyond Pluto. Using the light-bending gravity of dark matter, the LSST
will
chart the history of the expansion of the universe and probe the
mysterious
nature of dark energy.
The LSST data will be "open" to the public and scientists around the
world
-- anyone with a web browser will be able to access the images and
other
data produced by the LSST. "The LSST is a public-private partnership
and
will offer a 'New Sky' available to everyone," said LSST DIrector J.
Anthony
Tyson of the University of California, Davis. "Curious minds of all
ages
will be able to ask new questions of LSST's public database and zoom
into a
color movie of the deep universe."
The LSST Corporation awarded a $2.3 million contract to the University
of
Arizona Steward Observatory Mirror Lab in January, 2005, to purchase
the
glass and begin engineering work for the LSST?s 8.4-meter diameter
main
mirror. Although the final site for LSST has not been decided, the
telescope
will be placed in one of three candidate locations -- Las Campanas,
Chile;
Cerro Pachon, Chile; or San Pedro Martir, Baja California, Mexico.
The LSST has been identified as a national scientific priority in
reports
by several National Academy of Sciences and federal agency advisory
committees. This judgment is based upon the LSST's ability to address
some
of the most pressing open questions in astronomy and fundamental
physics,
while driving advances in data-intensive science and computing. The
National
Academy of Sciences "Quarks-to-Cosmos" report recommended the LSST as
an
incisive probe of the nature of dark energy. The LSST will open a new
frontier in addressing time variable phenomena in astronomy, according
to a
May 2000 academy report "Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New
Millennium."
In 2003, The University of Arizona, the National Optical Astronomy
Observatory, Research Corporation and the University of Washington
formed
the LSST Corporation, a non-profit 501(c)3 Arizona corporation, with
headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. Membership has expanded to include
Brookhaven
National Laboratory, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Johns
Hopkins University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Stanford
Linear
Accelerator Center, Stanford University, University of California at
Davis
and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
More information and recent LSST graphics are online at
http://www.lsst.org
---------------------------------------------
Science Contact Information
J. Anthony Tyson, LSST director
530-752-3830
Donald Sweeney, LSST project manager
520-881-2626
Philip A. Pinto, UA Steward Observatory
520-621-8678
Media Contact Information
Suzanne Jacoby, LSST Corp
520-881-2626
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT AWARD
(Forwarded from the LSST Corp., by UA Office of University
Communications)
September 2, 2005
------------------------------------
Contact information listed at end of release
-------------------------------------
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope has received the first year of a
four-year, $14.2 million award with the National Science Foundation to
design and develop a world-class 8.4-meter (27-foot) telescope
scheduled for
completion in 2012.
This award will allow engineers and scientists to complete design work
already underway so that the LSST can begin construction in 2009. This
unique system for surveying the heavens is made possible by advances in
several technologies including:
o Large optics fabrication to create the telescope's distinctive
3-mirror design which includes a convex 4-meter secondary mirror, the
size
of many primary mirrors on today's large research telescopes.
o Data management systems to process and catalog the 30 terabytes
of
data generated nightly, the equivalent of 7,000 DVDs.
o New detectors needed to build LSST's 3-billion-pixel digital
camera, the largest ever created.
The LSST will image an area of the sky roughly 50 times that of the
full
moon every 15 seconds, opening a movie-like window on objects that
change or
move on rapid time scales. Such objects include supernovae explosions
which
can be seen halfway across the universe, nearby asteroids which might
potentially strike Earth, and faint objects in the outer solar system
far
beyond Pluto. Using the light-bending gravity of dark matter, the LSST
will
chart the history of the expansion of the universe and probe the
mysterious
nature of dark energy.
The LSST data will be "open" to the public and scientists around the
world
-- anyone with a web browser will be able to access the images and
other
data produced by the LSST. "The LSST is a public-private partnership
and
will offer a 'New Sky' available to everyone," said LSST DIrector J.
Anthony
Tyson of the University of California, Davis. "Curious minds of all
ages
will be able to ask new questions of LSST's public database and zoom
into a
color movie of the deep universe."
The LSST Corporation awarded a $2.3 million contract to the University
of
Arizona Steward Observatory Mirror Lab in January, 2005, to purchase
the
glass and begin engineering work for the LSST?s 8.4-meter diameter
main
mirror. Although the final site for LSST has not been decided, the
telescope
will be placed in one of three candidate locations -- Las Campanas,
Chile;
Cerro Pachon, Chile; or San Pedro Martir, Baja California, Mexico.
The LSST has been identified as a national scientific priority in
reports
by several National Academy of Sciences and federal agency advisory
committees. This judgment is based upon the LSST's ability to address
some
of the most pressing open questions in astronomy and fundamental
physics,
while driving advances in data-intensive science and computing. The
National
Academy of Sciences "Quarks-to-Cosmos" report recommended the LSST as
an
incisive probe of the nature of dark energy. The LSST will open a new
frontier in addressing time variable phenomena in astronomy, according
to a
May 2000 academy report "Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New
Millennium."
In 2003, The University of Arizona, the National Optical Astronomy
Observatory, Research Corporation and the University of Washington
formed
the LSST Corporation, a non-profit 501(c)3 Arizona corporation, with
headquarters in Tucson, Ariz. Membership has expanded to include
Brookhaven
National Laboratory, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Johns
Hopkins University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Stanford
Linear
Accelerator Center, Stanford University, University of California at
Davis
and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
More information and recent LSST graphics are online at
http://www.lsst.org
---------------------------------------------
Science Contact Information
J. Anthony Tyson, LSST director
530-752-3830
Donald Sweeney, LSST project manager
520-881-2626
Philip A. Pinto, UA Steward Observatory
520-621-8678
Media Contact Information
Suzanne Jacoby, LSST Corp
520-881-2626