DESI Focal Plane Assembly: Time-Lapse Video

This 56-second time-lapse video shows three different camera views of assembly work for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument’s (DESI) Focal Plane. First, it shows the process of joining separate lengths of fiber-optic cables, known as fusion splicing. More than 5,000 fiber-optic cables, each measuring over 50 meters, will extend from near the top of the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope down to devices known as spectrographs that will be used to measure the properties of light from millions of distant galaxies. The Mayall Telescope is at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona

The middle portion of the video shows another view of the focal plane assembly area, and the final camera view shows the installation of robotic positioners into a wedge-shaped “petal.” The focal plane will be composed of 10 of these petals, each carrying 500 robotic positioners.