Gearfuse Technology, Science, Culture & More
And I thought my 10 megapixel camera was awesome. Well, the European Space Agency has just released a “one-billion pixel” camera. For those of you who are bad at math, that’s 1,000 megapixels.
The camera has been dubbed “Gaia”, and has been given the monumental task of mapping the entire Milky Way Galaxy in 3D. The ESA isn’t being humble about the possible capabilities of their camera, either. Quote:
Even if Gaia were mounted on the Earth’s surface, it could measure the thumbnails of a person on the moon.”
Since there are roughly one thousand million stars in the Milky Way Galaxy (that we know of), Gaia definitely has its work cut out for it. The entire process of mapping the galaxy in 3D will take place over a five-year period. Here’s to hoping one-billion-pixels isn’t considered pass�by then.
Link [via]
