Today's colloquium: The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

© Todd Mason, Mason Productions Inc. / LSST Corporation

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is a large aperture, wide-field, ground-based optical telescope designed to provide a deep time-domain survey of the entire southern hemisphere in six color bands covering the wavelength range 320-1050 nm.

Every piece of the southern sky will be 'visited' by LSST approximately 1000 times over the ten-year duration of the mission. The resulting database will enable a diverse array of in-depth investigations ranging from studies of moving small bodies in the solar system to the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole.

I will review the basic design of the LSST, and provide a brief tour of some of the exciting science that we expect to come from this major new Facility.