New Casting to start in January

On January 14, 2012, the second 8.4-meter (27.6 ft) diameter mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be cast inside a rotating furnace at the UA’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab underneath the campus football stadium. The Mirror Lab will host a special event to highlight this milestone in the creation of the optics for the Giant Magellan Telescope.
Members of the press and media are invited to visit the Mirror Lab on Saturday morning, January 14, 2012, between 9:00 and 11:00 am MST, and to take the opportunity to see the liquid glass as it is spun cast in a rotating oven at a temperature of 1170 degrees C (2140 F). This casting marks another major step in the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope. There will be opportunities to interview leading scientists and engineers involved in the project.
Read more in our press release here.