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Optical Design

The LSST telescope consists of three aspheric mirrors; an 8.4-m primary (M1), a 3.4-m convex secondary (M2), and a 5.0-m tertiary (M3).  The inner primary and outer tertiary edges are such that these mirrors can be fabricated from a single piece of Ohara E6 low expansions glass. The secondary mirror will be the largest convex mirror ever made. 

Financial support for Rubin Observatory comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Cooperative Agreement No. 1258333, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515, and private funding raised by the LSST Corporation. The NSF-funded Rubin Observatory Project Office for construction was established as an operating center under management of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA).  The DOE-funded effort to build the Rubin Observatory LSST Camera (LSSTCam) is managed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.
NSF and DOE will continue to support Rubin Observatory in its Operations phase. They will also provide support for scientific research with LSST data.   




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