During November 1999 the Magellan I mirror was transported from The University of Arizona Steward Mirror Lab to our observatory site in Chile. Read Mirror on the Move , an account of the 23 day journey The Magellan 1 6.5 meter primary mirror was coated with aluminum for the first time on August 7, 2000. The mirror was coated in its cell and is back in the telescope. The mirror lifting fixture originally used for installing the mirror in the cell is shown reflected in the newly coated surface. First light for Magellan I occurred September 15, 2000.
More information is available from our press release .
I 6.5 Meter telescope on December 4, 2000. The I-band magnitudes of the two objects are 16.86 and 17.34 respectively. Dedication of the Magellan telescopes took place on December 9th 2000.