LMI Gallery
Learn MoreThe all-purpose camera, principal imager, and workhorse instrument for the LDT.
Lowell astronomer Phil Massey is Principal Investigator for the instrument. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the LMI was commissioned in 2013 and 2014 and is now in full service. To maximize its field of view, the LMI is mounted at the straight-through position of the instrument cube.
The LMI features a 36 megapixel e2V charge-coupled device (CCD) with a field of view of 12.5 x 12.5 arc minutes. The philosophy behind the LMI is to enable imaging of a significant field of view in one exposure. Smaller CCDs have to be assembled in a mosaic to cover a large field of view, which reduces observing efficiency and creates complications in data reduction. The LMI, which uses the largest CCD that can be manufactured using current technology, sidesteps these problems and gives the LDT a highly effective and efficient imaging camera.

NGC 891

The Moon

Stephan's Quintet

NGC 4631

NGC 2903

NGC 7538

NGC 7331 Group of Galaxies

NGC 6946

NGC 1275 and the Perseus Cluster of Galaxies

NGC 772

NGC 772 Stretched

NGC 772 B&W

NGC 210

NGC 206 in M31 - 1

NGC 206 in M31 - 2

The Sombrero Galaxy

M 95 (NGC 3351)

M 74 (NGC 628)

M 51 The Whirlpool Galaxy

M 15 (NGC 7078)

M 1: the Crab Nebula

Jupiter and the Galilean Satellites

IC 342

The Horsehead Nebula

The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293)

M 108

M108 Version 2

M 66

M 27 The Dumbbell Nebula

M33