200-inch mirror online now!

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/camtest.html

The 200-inch mirror at Palomar Observatory is being realuminized. It
was removed from the telescope yesterday and is being stripped in
preparation for going into the aluminization tank. They may almost be
done with the process now but it's hard to tell. If the new aluminum
coating isn't good (they'll know tomorrow after pumping the tank down
overnight) the process will be repeated, so stay tuned.

Mike Simmons

Fascinating! Interesting too, how a spin cast replacement for the 200
inch mirror has been estimated to cost 9 million dollars. As I
understand it then, one shuttle flight would pay for maybe 45 of the
things...
Marty

Alexander Avtanski wrote:

Mike Simmons wrote:

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/camtest.html

The 200-inch mirror at Palomar Observatory is being realuminized. It
was removed from the telescope yesterday and is being stripped in
preparation for going into the aluminization tank. They may almost be
done with the process now but it's hard to tell. If the new aluminum
coating isn't good (they'll know tomorrow after pumping the tank down
overnight) the process will be repeated, so stay tuned.

Mike Simmons


Those guys are using - what? - paper towels to clean the mirror?!

Is that guy sitting on the mirror surface? Wearing copper rivet Levi's?

Mike Simmons wrote:

Alexander Avtanski wrote:

Those guys are using - what? - paper towels to clean the mirror?!

I didn't see them but they're undoubtedly large laboratory wipes that
are safe for the glass, of course. I think they just finished up the
final wash and rinse and are getting ready to put it in the chamber but
I'm not certain of that.

A few minutes before this the camera got a picture in the exact moment
when a guy was splashing a huge amount of water on the surface. The
next thing was the "towels" that looked like thrown randomly all over
the surface. After those two things I almost expected to see a janitor
with a mop and bucket, :-)

A friend from Palomar that's visiting just clued me in and I was
surprised it hadn't been advertised more. I'm keeping it on the screen
so I can watch while I work.

I'm doing the same. Really interesting and fun to watch too.

- Alex

Hi Alex,

Yes, the towels (lint-free) are tossed onto the mirror at random to soak
up the water. The amount of distilled water needed is enormous so
there's a lot of splashing that goes on first! And I have seen objects
that didn't look too different than janitorial supplies used on big
mirrors at Mt. Wilson. :-)

Mike Simmons

Alexander Avtanski wrote:

Mike Simmons wrote:

Alexander Avtanski wrote:

Those guys are using - what? - paper towels to clean the mirror?!

I didn't see them but they're undoubtedly large laboratory wipes that
are safe for the glass, of course. I think they just finished up the
final wash and rinse and are getting ready to put it in the chamber but
I'm not certain of that.

A few minutes before this the camera got a picture in the exact moment
when a guy was splashing a huge amount of water on the surface. The
next thing was the "towels" that looked like thrown randomly all over
the surface. After those two things I almost expected to see a janitor
with a mop and bucket, :-)

A friend from Palomar that's visiting just clued me in and I was
surprised it hadn't been advertised more. I'm keeping it on the screen
so I can watch while I work.

I'm doing the same. Really interesting and fun to watch too.

- Alex

"Alexander Avtanski" wrote in message
...
Mike Simmons wrote:

http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/camtest.html

The 200-inch mirror at Palomar Observatory is being realuminized. It
was removed from the telescope yesterday and is being stripped in
preparation for going into the aluminization tank. They may almost be
done with the process now but it's hard to tell. If the new aluminum
coating isn't good (they'll know tomorrow after pumping the tank down
overnight) the process will be repeated, so stay tuned.

Mike Simmons

Those guys are using - what? - paper towels to clean the mirror?!

Of course not! Those are handiwipes! ^_^