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Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Project Receives $20M from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences and $10M from Bill Gates

01/8/08

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Project is pleased to announce receipt of two major gifts: $20M from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences and $10M from Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Under development since 2000, the LSST is a public-private partnership. This gift enables the construction of LSST's three large mirrors; these mirrors take over five years to manufacture. The first stages of production for the two largest mirrors are now beginning at the Mirror Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Other key elements of the LSST system will also be aided by this commitment.

The LSST project has strong local Pittsburgh ties. The University of Pittsburgh became a partner in July 2007, coinciding with the hiring of faculty member Jeff Newman, a nationally-recognized expert on large survey astronomy.

Carnegie Mellon University was approved for membership in the consortium at the LSST board meeting on January 2, 2008, and the two institutions plan to develop a major research effort focused on LSST science over the coming few years. In addition, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center is exploring possibilities for LSST involvement. Computing is an essential aspect of the project: the experiment will result in one of the largest publicly-available databases ever assembled.

Google is also a partner in the LSST project, and the Pittsburgh Google office plans to be involved. Google employee and former Pitt postdoc Ryan Scranton led the development of Google Sky, a free astronomy visualization program which has quickly become a popular addition to the Google Earth program.

The LSST exemplifies characteristics Simonyi and Gates have exhibited in their successful lives and careers—innovation, excitement of discovery, cutting edge technology, and a creative energy that pushes the possibilities of human achievement. The LSST leverages advances in large telescope design, imaging detectors, and computing to engage everyone in a journey of cosmic discovery. Proposed for "first light" in 2014, the 8.4-meter LSST will survey the entire visible sky deeply in multiple colors every week with its three-billion pixel digital camera, probing the mysteries of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and opening a movie-like window on objects that change or move.

"This support from Charles Simonyi and Bill Gates will lead to a transformation in the way we study the Universe," said University of California, Davis, Professor and LSST Director J. Anthony Tyson. "By mapping the visible sky deeply and rapidly, the LSST will let everyone experience a novel view of our Universe and permit exciting new questions in a variety of areas of astronomy and fundamental physics."