A unique, ground-based telescope project led by a UC Davis physics professor will take its first steps to production following the recent award of a $2.3 million contract to the University of Arizona Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, to purchase the glass and begin engineering work for the telescope's 8.4-meter diameter main mirror.

When completed, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST, will be able to survey the entire visible sky every three nights. It will look for light from distant galaxies that has been bent by gravity, to detect the mysterious dark matter and dark energy thought to make up most of the universe.

"It will open entirely new windows on our universe," said project leader J. Anthony Tyson, professor of physics at UC Davis and director of the LSST Corporation

The telescope will be able to take exposures every 10 seconds, helping astronomers see objects that change or move rapidly such as supernovae and Earth-approaching asteroids. Its three billion-pixel digital camera will generate 30 terabytes of data per night.

The mirror contract was made possible by a private donation from Arizona businessman Richard Caris. The contract covers the first of four phases in an estimated $13.8 million effort to design, cast, polish and construct the mirror. Substantial support has also been provided by a private foundation, the Research Corporation.

The telescope could be operational as early as 2012. The LSST Corporation was founded by Research Corporation, the University of Arizona, the University of Washington and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, with participation from astronomers, physicists and engineers across the country.