The 6.5-meter mirrors for the two Magellan telescopes in Chile and the two 8-meter binocular mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope were all made at the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab.
The process for casting giant, lightweight mirrors in a spinning furnace was invented by UA astronomer Roger Angel, who was recently selected for induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Alexandria, Virginia.
Angel is also founder and former director of the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics at Steward Observatory and developed the method for making the thin, flexible secondary mirrors that allow astronomers to erase the blurring of the atmosphere.
