LSST Lens Inspection

Arrival and inspection of the L3 lens of the LSST Camera at a clean room at SLAC. Although smaller than the other two lenses that will go into the camera body, it’s still over 3 feet in diameter and weighs a whopping 200 pounds. L3 will be closest to the 3,200-megapixel camera’s focal plane. It’ll be the final optical element correcting images captured by the imaging sensors, as well as the barrier for the vacuum inside the cryostat that cools imaging sensors to minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Work on the lenses has been managed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.