Original upload date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Wed, 01 Dec 2021 02:58:43 GMT
Saturday, 14 January, 2012 was an open house at Steward Observatory Mirror Lab for invited guests and partners for the casting of the second mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope. While guests tour
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ed the facilities, the Lab staff ran both of our polishing machines on current projects, including this view of final polishing on the first GMT segment. We are using a stressed lap polisher at left, while the tours visit the process from the stairs in the background. When finished, the GMT project will consist of 7 mirrors this size with an effective mirror diameter of over 24 meters diameter. This sequence is 10 hours long with a frame every 15 seconds and includes a preliminary wash, lap pressing, polishing for 6 hours, and a final wash and rinse.
