SCIENCE
Rare chance to view one of world's largest sky-scanning digital cameras
Astrophysicists will explain dark energy experiment and answer questions.
From noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, media may view at Fermilab a new instrument for discovering the fate of the universe and the characteristics of dark energy. Media also may interview researchers who will use this Dark Energy Camera, a souped-up, giant digital camera, to carry out the largest galaxy survey in the world.
Astrophysicists are assembling and testing the camera at Fermilab using a new state-of-the-art facility specially built for this purpose. In the next few months, they will ship the camera to Chile for installation on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo. During five years of operation, the camera will create deep, color images of one-tenth of the sky and measure 300 million galaxies as they were when the universe was only a few billion years old.
A tour of the Dark Energy Camera assembly area at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, will allow media to view the 570-megapixel camera mounted on a two-story, rotating ring that mimics the top-end of the Blanco telescope. Media also may see the prototype camera disassembled in a clean room.
Media wishing to attend should e-mail Tona Kunz at tkunz@fnal.gov by Nov. 10 to ensure there is adequate space available on the tours of the camera assembly area.
During a 40-minute news briefing preceding the tour, scientists will explain the experiment and then answer media questions.
Dark Energy Survey Director, Fermilab physicist, and University of Chicago professor Josh Frieman will explain how the experiment will address questions about dark energy and why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.
Dark Energy Camera Project Manager and Fermilab physicist Brenna Flaugher will detail the construction of the nearly 4-ton camera, which is being built with the help of researchers in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Brazil and Germany. Private institutions also fabricated parts and provided expertise worth about $6.4 million, including $5.2 million from institutions in the United States.
Dark Energy Survey Deputy Director and University of Chicago professor Rich Kron will detail the process for taking photos in Chile and distributing the images to researchers and the public.
Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics Director and University of Chicago professor Craig Hogan will explain how the experiment fits in with the astrophysics program at Fermilab and in the U.S. as a whole.
From noon to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010, media may view at Fermilab a new instrument for discovering the fate of the universe and the characteristics of dark energy. Media also may interview researchers who will use this Dark Energy Camera, a souped-up, giant digital camera, to carry out the largest galaxy survey in the world.
Astrophysicists are assembling and testing the camera at Fermilab using a new state-of-the-art facility specially built for this purpose. In the next few months, they will ship the camera to Chile for installation on the 4-meter Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo. During five years of operation, the camera will create deep, color images of one-tenth of the sky and measure 300 million galaxies as they were when the universe was only a few billion years old.
A tour of the Dark Energy Camera assembly area at the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, will allow media to view the 570-megapixel camera mounted on a two-story, rotating ring that mimics the top-end of the Blanco telescope. Media also may see the prototype camera disassembled in a clean room.
Media wishing to attend should e-mail Tona Kunz at tkunz@fnal.gov by Nov. 10 to ensure there is adequate space available on the tours of the camera assembly area.
During a 40-minute news briefing preceding the tour, scientists will explain the experiment and then answer media questions.
Dark Energy Survey Director, Fermilab physicist, and University of Chicago professor Josh Frieman will explain how the experiment will address questions about dark energy and why the expansion of the universe is speeding up.
Dark Energy Camera Project Manager and Fermilab physicist Brenna Flaugher will detail the construction of the nearly 4-ton camera, which is being built with the help of researchers in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Brazil and Germany. Private institutions also fabricated parts and provided expertise worth about $6.4 million, including $5.2 million from institutions in the United States.
Dark Energy Survey Deputy Director and University of Chicago professor Rich Kron will detail the process for taking photos in Chile and distributing the images to researchers and the public.
Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics Director and University of Chicago professor Craig Hogan will explain how the experiment fits in with the astrophysics program at Fermilab and in the U.S. as a whole.