Monstrous 570 Megapixel Digital Camera

Remember the days when a 5 megapixel digital camera was considered top-of-the-line? I do. Remember the days when 570 megapixel digital cameras were the size of cars? That’s a question people might ask years from now, when the most basic pocket cameras boast hundreds of megapixels, and when we have petabyte external hard drives.

The “camera” shown above is one of the largest digital cameras in existence, created by Fermilab, a US national laboratory specializing in physics. It uses 74 CCD sensors to create 570 megapixel images of galaxies and supernovas. Scientists plan on using the $35 million dollar camera to map some 300 million galaxies.

Any guesses as to how long it will be before we’re paying $350 for a 570 megapixel compact digital camera? Will that day ever arrive?