as one of 11 international partners in the giant magellan telescope texas a&m university is part of important astrophysical history set to go down today (friday sept 18) beneath a football stadium in tucson the casting of the telescopes fourth primary mirror at the university of arizonas richard f caris mirror lab at steward observatory earlier this week lab personnel loaded roughly 21 tons of borosilicate glass into a massive steel mold for the history-making 84-meter diameter mirror set to be cast in conjunction with todays lab renaming and rededication ceremony honoring its new namesake richard f caris the scottsdale businessman recently donated $20 million to the university of arizona to support its partnership in the construction of the gmt texas a&m astronomer and longtime giant magellan telescope organization (gmto) board member darren depoy says that in addition to being the only mirror segment with a central hole the fourth mirror carries the added distinction of rendering the telescope operational if necessary thanks to flexibility in its design that will allow for it to function even as the rest of the mirrors still are being fabricated earlier this week glass loading was completed within the mold for the fourth 84-meter primary mirror shown here awaiting final placement of the oven lid (credit: ray bertram university of arizona steward observatory) the giant magellan telescopes seven mirrors span 25 meters and will focus more than six times the amount of light of the current largest optical telescopes into images up to 10 times sharper than those of the hubble space telescope (credit: giant magellan telescope – gmto corporation) there is special significance to the fourth mirror said depoy deputy director of the george p and cynthia woods mitchell institute for fundamental physics and astronomy and director of texas a&ms munnerlyn astronomical instrumentation laboratory it will be the central unit without it the other mirrors would be much more difficult to bring together to function as a single telescope also our baseline plan starts the operations of the gmt with just these four mirrors which will all have been cast once this one is complete while the first primary mirror is packaged within the lab and ready for eventual transport to chile the second and third mirrors currently are at various stages of polishing the first two mirrors known as gmt1 and gmt2 are named for 1940 texas a&m distinguished petroleum engineering graduate george p mitchell 40 and cynthia woods mitchell respectively the mitchells in combination with the cynthia and george mitchell foundation have committed a total of $3325 million thus far to the $1 billion project including nearly $21 million on behalf of texas a&m the gmt set for construction at the las campanas observatory site in the atacama desert in northern chile will be a member of the next class of super giant earth-based telescopes that promises to revolutionize our view and understanding of the universe by enabling astronomers to look deeper into space and farther back in time than ever before when completed the seven-mirror 25-meter colossus will feature 10 times the resolving power of nasas hubble space telescope and more than six times the light-gathering area of the largest optical telescopes in existence today described as being predicated on modern technology the gmt will merge lasers with an adaptable optics system that hinges on state-of-the-art astronomical instrumentation including first-light devices and measurement systems being built and assembled within texas a&ms munnerlyn lab the telescope is expected to see first light in 2021 and be fully operational by 2024 the steward observatory mirror lab is the only facility in the world where mirrors of this size are being made the gmt mirrors are considered to be the greatest astronomical optics challenge ever undertaken given that each weighs roughly 20 tons yet requires a precision-smoothed surface to within a twentieth of a wavelength of light like other mirrors produced by the lab those for the gmt are designed to be spun cast thereby achieving the basic front surface in the shape of a paraboloid the shape taken on by water in a bucket when the bucket is spun around its axis; the water rises up the walls of the bucket while a depression forms in the center the pre-assembled mold creates a lightweight honeycomb glass structure that is very stiff and quickly adjusts to changes in nighttime air temperature each resulting in sharper images watch a short video discussing the mirror-making process: for more information about the gmt including design scope and projected science visit wwwgmtoorg to learn more about texas a&m astronomy visit here read a past blog entry detailing some of the projects history relevant to texas a&m and the state of texas read a nice recap feature on a previous mirror casting from the university of arizonas office of university communications read about the remarkable success of the first mirror polishing courtesy of the steward observatory mirror lab # # # # # # # # # # about the giant magellan telescope organization: the giant magellan telescope organization (gmto) manages the gmt project on behalf of its international partners: astronomy australia ltd the australian national university carnegie institution for science fundação de amparo à pesquisa do estado de são paulo harvard university korea astronomy and space science institute smithsonian institution texas a&m university the university of arizona the university of chicago and the university of texas at austin for more information visit wwwgmtoorg about research at texas a&m university: as one of the worlds leading research institutions texas a&m is at the forefront in making significant contributions to the storehouse of knowledge including that of science and technology research conducted at texas a&m represented annual expenditures of more than $820 million in fy 2013 ranking texas a&m in the top 20 of the national science foundations most recent survey of research and development expenditures among us colleges and universities recently reported fy 2014 research expenditures exceed $854 million that research creates new knowledge that provides basic fundamental and applied contributions resulting in many cases in economic benefits to the state nation and world to learn more visit http://researchtamuedu -atm- contact: shana k hutchins (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@sciencetamuedu or dr darren depoy (979) 862-2082 or depoy@physicstamuedu