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Ptah

(32,983 posts)
Sat Nov 4, 2017, 09:13 AM Nov 2017

UA lab casts fifth of seven giant mirrors for telescope in Chile




A giant red rotating oven spun under the University of Arizona football stadium in the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab on Friday, marking the beginning of the casting process for the fifth mirror of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

{snip}

When completed, the GMT will be the largest ground-based optical telescope in the world, made up of a seven-mirror mosaic, each measuring 27 feet in diameter. The UA lab is the only one in the world capable of making the giant mirrors.

Together, the mosaic will usher in the next generation of extremely large telescopes.

The images collected with this massive telescope will be 10 times sharper than the images the Hubble Space Telescope captures in infrared light.


http://tucson.com/news/local/ua-lab-casts-fifth-of-seven-giant-mirrors-for-telescope/article_476c932e-ea89-540c-952c-cefefb4edf31.html
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UA lab casts fifth of seven giant mirrors for telescope in Chile (Original Post) Ptah Nov 2017 OP
Spin-casting is such a beautiful innovation. hunter Nov 2017 #1
The demonstration was very nice krispos42 Nov 2017 #2

hunter

(38,264 posts)
1. Spin-casting is such a beautiful innovation.
Sat Nov 4, 2017, 03:20 PM
Nov 2017

I remember reading about it as a kid and thinking "Yes!"

So simple, so elegant... and of course many problems to be worked out in practice.



I remember my grandpa building small telescopes, 4-8 inches. He was never happy with the mirrors he made, or the mirrors he bought. I've got a telescope he made in storage. It's not as good as any quality mass-produced telescope of today but it's a hard thing for me to get rid of because I know the work he put into it.

krispos42

(49,445 posts)
2. The demonstration was very nice
Sun Nov 5, 2017, 02:33 PM
Nov 2017

It very simply and concisely explained the underlining idea behind spin casting.

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