Construction is underway on a next-generation optical telescope, up to 200 times more powerful than the best telescopes used today.
The Giant Magellan Telescope’s seven mirrors are being made right here at the University of Arizona.
“There’s no other university in the world that has a production facility like this,” said Hubert “Buddy” Martin, Project Scientist for Mirror Polishing.
The production facility is the University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab. It is a hidden gem at the university, tucked underneath the east side of Arizona Stadium.
KGUN 9 Despite being hidden away, the lab is world-renowned for its cutting-edge development of optical telescope mirrors.
“All of these 8.4 meter mirrors are the biggest mirrors that have ever been made,” explained Martin.
Right now they’re making the seven mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope which will be located in Chile.
But to better understand what they’re doing now, you have to go back to the beginning—the early 1980s.