LSST: From Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

Abstract We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the solar system, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a large, wide-field ground-based system designed to obtain repeated images covering the sky visible from Cerro Pachón in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg 2 field of view, a 3.2-gigapixel camera, and six filters ( ugrizy ) covering the wavelength range 320–1050 nm. The project is in the construction phase and will…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy
• EA
  Economic and Social Research Council

  Award: ES/N013956/1
• SA
  Science and Technology Facilities Council

  Awards: ST/P004474/2, ST/P004474/1, ST/N003179/1, ST/S000488/1