The Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
This is a place of awe and wonder. It has got to be the premier large mirror manufacturing facility in the world. They pioneered spin casting, which rotates the melted glass within its furnace oven container to develop a parabolic shape. Also developed here were adaptive optics (dynamic mirror distortion) to compensate for atmospheric anomalies.
Currently they are working the Gigantic Magellan Telescope (GMT). This monster uses six 8.4 meter off center paraboloid mirrors, and one center mirror to bring an incredible amount of light to a focus. All the mirrors are of honeycomb construction to reduce weight, and are made of borosilicate glass (Pyrex). Each mirror's paraboloid surface is about one inch thick. The whole structure with the mount and housing will be about 200 feet high, and is scheduled to be operational at a mountain top in Chile in the year 2020. As a comparison, the single 200 inch mirror at the Mount Palomar Observatory is about 5 meters.
In the picture, the technician is working on the final polishing of the second mirror for the GMT. They use silly putty as an abrasive to grind the mirror to within a half-wavelength of light.
Ratch
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
This is a place of awe and wonder. It has got to be the premier large mirror manufacturing facility in the world. They pioneered spin casting, which rotates the melted glass within its furnace oven container to develop a parabolic shape. Also developed here were adaptive optics (dynamic mirror distortion) to compensate for atmospheric anomalies.
Currently they are working the Gigantic Magellan Telescope (GMT). This monster uses six 8.4 meter off center paraboloid mirrors, and one center mirror to bring an incredible amount of light to a focus. All the mirrors are of honeycomb construction to reduce weight, and are made of borosilicate glass (Pyrex). Each mirror's paraboloid surface is about one inch thick. The whole structure with the mount and housing will be about 200 feet high, and is scheduled to be operational at a mountain top in Chile in the year 2020. As a comparison, the single 200 inch mirror at the Mount Palomar Observatory is about 5 meters.
In the picture, the technician is working on the final polishing of the second mirror for the GMT. They use silly putty as an abrasive to grind the mirror to within a half-wavelength of light.
Ratch
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