Extremely Large Telescope: World’s Largest Telescope Mirror Will Bring The Stars 'Closer To Earth'
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
By European Southern Observatory (ESO) July 3, 2024
Currently under construction in the Chilean Atacama Desert, the European Southern Observatory's Extremely Large Telescope (ESO's ELT) is one step closer to completion. German company SCHOTT has successfully delivered the blank for the last of the 949 segments commissioned for the telescope's primary mirror (M1). With a diameter of more than 39 meters, M1 will be by far the largest mirror ever made for a telescope.
Too large to be made from a single piece of glass, M1 will consist of 798 hexagonal segments, each about five centimeters thick and 1.5 meters across, working together to collect tens of millions of times as much light as the human eye. An additional 133 segments have been produced to facilitate the maintenance and recoating of the segments once the telescope is operational. ESO has also procured 18 spare segments, bringing the total number to 949.
The primary mirror of ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), known as M1, will be by far the largest mirror ever made for a telescope. With a diameter of more than 39 meters, M1 is too large to be made from a single piece of glass and will instead consist of 798 hexagonal segments, each about five centimeters thick and 1.5 meters across, working together to collect tens of millions of times as much light as the human eye. An additional 133 segments have been produced to facilitate the maintenance and recoating of the segments once the telescope is operational. ESO has also procured 18 spare segments, bringing the total number to 949. Now, German company SCHOTT has successfully cast the blank for the last of the 949 segments, seen in this photo. The M1 blanks, shaped pieces of material that are later polished to become the mirror segments, are made from ZERODUR(C), a low-expansion glass-ceramic material developed by SCHOTT and optimized for the extreme temperature ranges at the ELT's site in the Atacama Desert. The 949th segment is seen in this image before being cut into its hexagonal shape and polished - steps that will be performed by French company Safran Reosc. Credit: SCHOTT
The M1 blanks, shaped pieces of material that are later polished to become the mirror segments, are made from ZERODUR(R), a low-expansion glass-ceramic material developed by SCHOTT and optimized for the extreme temperature ranges at the ELT's site in the Atacama Desert. This company has also manufactured the blanks of three other ELT mirrors - M2, M3, and M4 - at their facilities in Mainz, Germany.
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