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Scientists on Friday began casting one of the largest telescope mirrors ever made on Earth for the giant Magellan telescope under construction in Chile.
Why is this important: The massive telescope is designed to one day scan the atmospheres of potentially habitable planets around distant stars, learn about early galaxies, and study other objects of interest.
What is happening: The mirror is made in Arizona using the world’s only spinning furnace designed for this type of molding.
- On Saturday, the oven will hit “high heat,” spinning at five revolutions per minute and heating the glass to 2,129 degrees Fahrenheit for about five hours to liquefy it.
- After this heating peak, the glass will gradually cool for about a month as the furnace rotates more slowly, eventually reaching room temperature. about 2.5 months after an intense fire.
- “Once cooled, the mirror will be polished for two years before reaching an optical surface accuracy of less than a thousandth the width of a human hair or five times smaller than a single coronavirus particle,” wrote the GMT organization in a press release.
And after: The first two GMT mirrors are ready and stored, with three others still being processed. The seventh – finally – mirror should be cast in 2023.
- The team behind the telescope also plans to make an eighth mirror as a spare.
- The telescope is expected to see the first light in 2029.
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