VLT primary mirror: still liquid!

Production of one of the VLT primary mirrors at the Schott company in Germany, in February 1993. The liquid yellow glowing glass is cooled down over several weeks under controlled conditions. With a diameter of 8.2 metres, the VLT primary mirrors (M1s) are among the largest one-piece astronomical mirrors in the world. The VLT M1s are only 17 cm thick and they are made of Zerodur, a special glass-ceramic with a thermal expansion coefficient close to zero. Zerodur is a very stable material that can be polished with the extremely high accuracy required by astronomical mirrors.

Crédit:

ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:paranal-1993
Type:Photographique
Date de publication:2 août 2010 16:33
Taille:4852 x 4826 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Very Large Telescope
Type:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Catégorie:Paranal

Formats des images

Grand JPEG
8,1 Mio
JPEG taille écran
332,9 Kio

Zoomable


Fonds d'écran

1024x768
306,0 Kio
1280x1024
504,6 Kio
1600x1200
752,8 Kio
1920x1200
929,2 Kio
2048x1536
1,2 Mio