Building the World’s Largest Telescope

While some complex production processes can take days or weeks, creating something as monumental as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) is in its own realm with individual steps measured in months and years. Consider the production of the massive yet highly accurate mirrors needed for the one-of-a-kind telescope. The process is happening far beneath the University of Arizona football field at the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab where six of the world’s largest mirrors are under construction using the world’s purest glass, within a giant spinning oven. In a marvel of modern engineering that takes four years of effort, the 8.4-meter (28 feet) mirror manufacturing is well underway.