A new UK-built camera that can take over 1,000 images per second has been fitted to the world’s largest optical telescope.

The pioneering HiPERCAM project is led by Vik Dhillon and his team at the University of Sheffield (www.sheffield.ac.uk) in partnership with the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) in Edinburgh.

It will take high-speed moving images of objects in the universe in five different colours simultaneously, allowing eclipses, explosions and the remnants of dead stars — white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes — to be studied
in unprecedented detail.

By observing how the brightness of stars changes as their planets and objects in our solar system cross the line of sight, HiPERCAM will also allow astronomers to study planets and asteroids.

Sam Gyimah, the science and universities minister, said: “The vital role that the Science and Technology Facilities Council and UK universities played in developing HiPERCAM is a testament to the work of our world-class scientists.

"This game-changing camera will help to maintain our reputation as a global leader in R&D.”

The pioneering five-year project was funded by a grant worth 3.5 million euros from the European Research Council. The camera has been mounted on the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) on the island of La Palma, at more than 2,500m above sea level.

Martin Black, an optical engineer from UK ATC, said: “HiPERCAM was a challenging project that pushed the design team to fit a lot of scientific potential into a small space.

"The team had to work closely together to ensure that everything fitted together and to correctly position the cameras to around 30µm — about the width of a human hair.”