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IMAGES:
The links below take you to a page where you can download higher resolution images.
Primary mirror #2 being delivered in Coquimbo, Chile on March 13, 2000.
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Primary Mirror #2 going through the Puclaro Dam Tunnel at 3am, March 15th.
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Primary Mirror #2 on the way to Cerro Pachon. Cerro Tololo is visible in the background. March 16, 2000.
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Primary Mirror #2 convoy from the rear, with the Gemini South facility in the background, March 17, 2000.
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Photos Courtesy Gemini Observatory
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8.1-Meter Mirror Crosses Oceans to Reach Gemini Telescope
24-ton mirror is safely delivered to remote Chilean Mountaintop
After traveling in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, through the Panama
Canal and up a steep, narrow mountain road to a remote peak in Chile,
one of the world's largest astronomical telescope mirrors arrived safely
at the Gemini South Observatory on March 17th, 2000. The mirror, which
can collect more light than two million human eyes, is the heart of the
Gemini South Telescope on Cerro Pachón, a mountain in central Chile.
The telescope will soon join its identical twin, on Hawaii's Mauna Kea,
to provide extremely high-resolution images of the universe.
The massive yet delicate mirror represents some of the most advanced
optical technology ever assembled for astronomical research. Combined
with adaptive optics, the telescope will produce infrared images that
are sharp enough to resolve the separation between a pair of automobile
headlights at a distance of 3,000 miles! Gemini can exceed the
resolving power of the Hubble Space Telescope in the infrared and produce images that
are as sharp as theoretically possible for a telescope of this size.
Astronomers from the seven country Gemini Partnership will use the
telescope to answer fundamental questions ranging from the formation of
stellar and planetary systems to the fate and evolution of our
universe.
Gemini Optics Manager Larry Stepp said, "It is a great feeling to have
both Gemini mirrors safely in place and poised to begin collecting
light. These superb mirrors are a key part of the technology that gives
the Gemini Telescopes unmatched ability to explore the universe from the
Earth, particularly in the infrared."
The Gemini mirror began its voyage almost 15,000 miles ago at Corning
Incorporated in Canton, N.Y., where it was fused from 23 metric tonnes
of Corning's Ultra-Low Expansion Glass. From Corning, it traveled by
ship to REOSC just south of Paris, where it was polished to a surface so
smooth that if the mirror were enlarged to the size of the United
States, no hill would be larger than a speed bump!
In mid February 2000, the mirror began the last leg of its worldly
travels with a spectacular voyage by barge through central Paris and out
to sea on a large container ship. After about one month deep inside the
ship, it arrived in Chile to begin the 4-day voyage to the nearly
9,000-foot peak of Cerro Pachón.
On March 18th the mirror passed an inspection by Optics Manager Larry
Stepp. Gemini technicians will soon deposit a very thin layer of metal
on the glass so that it can reflect starlight. The Gemini South
telescope is expected to see "First Light" during the second half of
this year.
"It is never easy to move something this big, awkward and delicate."
Said Gemini Project Manager Jim Oschmann. "We even had to widen one of
the tunnels by 2 meters so that the mirror and other parts of the
telescope could get through!"
For images of the mirror move, see:
www.gemini.edu/gallery/mirror/cp_mirror.html. Broadcast quality video
is also available upon request (pmichaud@gemini.edu)
The Gemini 8-meter Observatory Project is a multi-national collaboration
that will provide two nearly identical 8-meter telescopes to an
international community of astronomers. Both telescopes will
incorporate new technologies that allow large, relatively thin mirrors
to collect and focus both optical and infrared radiation from space
with extremely high resolution. The telescopes are located on Hawaii's
Mauna Kea (Gemini North) and the other on Cerro Pachón in central Chile
(Gemini South), and hence will provide full sky coverage. Gemini North
is nearing scientific operations by the middle of this year and Gemini
South will follow about one year later. More information on the Gemini
Observatory can be found at www.gemini.edu
The Gemini Observatory provides the astronomical communities in each
partner country with state-of-the-art astronomical facilities that will
allocate observing time in proportion to each country's contribution. In
addition to financial support, each country also contributes significant
scientific and technical resources. The national research agencies that
form the Gemini partnership include: the US National Science Foundation
(NSF), the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC),
the Canadian National Research Council (NRC), the Chilean Comisión
Nacional de Investigación Cientifica y Tecnológica (CONICYT), the
Australian Research Council (ARC), the Argentinean Consejo Nacional de
Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and the Brazilian
Conselho Nacional de Pesquisas Cientificas e Tecnológicas (CNPq). The
Observatory is managed by the Association of Universities for Research
in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the NSF.
The NSF also serves as the executive agency for the international
partnership.
The Gemini project is managed by the Association of Universities for Research
in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA), a non-profit consortium of 29 U.S. institutions and
five international affiliates. For U.S. astronomers, the gateway to Gemini is
the U.S. Gemini Program, a division of the National Optical Astronomy
Observatory (NOAO). NOAO is operated by AURA under a cooperative agreement
with the NSF.
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For more information:
Suzanne Jacoby
Press Officer
NOAO/US Gemini Program
(520) 318-8364
sjacoby@noao.edu
Peter Michaud
Public Information & Outreach Office
Gemini Observatory
(808) 974-2510
pmichaud@gemini.edu
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