Overview

• The initial 10-hour test captured over ten million galaxies, star-forming nebulae and thousands of previously unseen asteroids in the southern sky.
• One image dubbed the “cosmic treasure chest” highlights a region of the Virgo Cluster, and separate mosaics reveal the Trifid and Lagoon nebulas in Sagittarius.
• The observatory’s 8.4-meter mirror pairs with a 3,200-megapixel Legacy Survey of Space and Time camera to deliver the world’s largest digital astronomical imagery.
• Situated at 2,682 meters on Chile’s Cerro Pachón, the site offers exceptional atmospheric clarity for ground-based observations.
• During its ten-year mission, the facility will probe dark energy and dark matter while scanning nightly for near-Earth asteroids under DOE and NSF sponsorship.