Our Optics Group has been doing some testing recently. Click on the video below. You can see two strips of metal, separately attached to a circular piece of glass. Pull the strips apart. How hard can you pull before something breaks? And what on Earth does this have to do with building a telescope?
As I’ve explained elsewhere in this blog, segment support assemblies are what hold in place each of TMT’s primary mirror segments. They also let each segment be positioned in real time to provide the best possible imaging capability. Staff at the TMT Project Lab in Monrovia, California, are building six segment support assemblies to determine whether the design can be manufactured in a repeatable, problem-free manner.
It’s been some time since my last blog entry because TMT has been keeping me rather busy. I’ll talk about some of the latest happenings in upcoming entries as soon as time permits. However, before letting any more time go by, I’d like to take a moment to highlight TMT’s WFOS system.
As I write this, the final design for TMT’s enclosure—a huge, moveable dome that will house the telescope—is nearing completion. A substantial portion of the final design has already been done, allowing for work to begin on the production readiness phase. The last of the design reviews, for the enclosure’s electrical and controls aspects, is planned for the coming months, with the hope that a contract for the fabrication phase and making all...
One of the highlights for me starting to working on TMT four years ago was my first visit to our laboratory, and the opportunity to see and touch the hardware prototypes for TMT’s mirror support and control systems.
In the Himalayan foothills near Naintal, India, stands the largest single-mirror optical telescope in Asia: India’s new Devasthal Telescope, designed and built under the joint leadership of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), the Indian Institute for Astrophysics, and the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research.
One of the joys of working on TMT is the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from amazing people all over the world, including Japan.
Imagine trying to manufacture a primary mirror that is approximately 1/3 the size of an American football field.
The Thirty Meter Telescope is being designed and built by an international partnership of institutes and countries representing almost half the world’s total population.
Displaying posts 21 - 28 of 28 in total
