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The Blanco 4-m Telescope Primary Mirror aluminization [1]

    The Blanco 4-m telescope primary mirror, cleaned of its old coating of aluminum prior to installation in the vacuum chamber used to apply a new coating.   The 15-ton mirror is made of a glass called Cer-Vit, which has a very low coefficient of thermal expansion (and is no longer available).  On Wednesday 30th March, we applied a very high quality, 100nm thick layer of pure aluminum.  In this condition, the mirror is more reflective than it has been in over a decade and will provide a good start to the forthcoming Dark Energy Survey.

 
 
[2]
Summary: 
The Blanco 4-m telescope primary mirror, cleaned of its old coating of aluminum prior to installation in the vacuum chamber used to apply a new coating.

Source URL (modified on 01/31/2012 - 17:28): http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/node/439

Links
[1] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/node/439
[2] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/sites/default/files/field/image/Clean mirror.jpg