Konstantin Sukharnikov Scientific instrumentation

A hobby. An independent overview compiled from public sources by a science and space enthusiast. I am not involved in these missions or facilities; my own work is detector electronics at European XFEL. My projects →

Facility · Telescopes

Vera C. Rubin Observatory (LSST)

8.4 m survey telescope with a 3.2-gigapixel camera

Status
Operating
Location
Cerro Pachón, Chile
Operator
NSF NOIRLab and DOE SLAC
Next
Data previews and first LSST science releases

Summary

The ten-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time: the whole southern sky every few nights in six filters. It has the world's largest digital camera (built at SLAC) and sends millions of alerts per night.

Now as of 4 Nov 2026

The LSST survey officially began on the night of 29 June 2026 (Princeton LSST, Fermilab). The first public alerts went out on 24 February 2026 (SEA).

Key dates

  1. Jun 2025First imagesdone
  2. 24 Feb 2026First public alertsdone
  3. 29 Jun 2026Ten-year LSST survey beginsdone