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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.

 
 
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 (retrieved on 02/09/2013 - 02:32): http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/Blanco-4-m-Telescope-Primary-Mirror-aluminization

Links:
[1] http://www.ctio.noao.edu/noao/content/Blanco-4-m-Telescope-Primary-Mirror-aluminization