Should you find yourself in a reflective mood, consider taking a tour of the University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Laboratory.
That’s where a team of scientists and engineers make enormous, lightweight mirrors for a new generation of optical telescopes.
The 90-minute tour provides a unique opportunity to learn how innovative engineering and optical technology melds with manufacturing techniques to produce the largest and most advanced giant telescope mirrors in the world.
Four mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope, each 27 feet across, are in various stages of production at the Mirror Lab.
It used to be that large telescopes were equipped with conventional, solid-glass mirrors. But the mirrors made at the mirror lab are anything but.
Instead, they have a honeycomb structure on the inside and are fashioned from Ohara E6-type borosilicate glass that is melted, molded and spun cast into the shape of a paraboloid in a custom-designed rotating oven.
The lab began around 1980 with a backyard experiment conducted by mirror lab founder and director Roger Angel.
Curious about the suitability of borosilicate glass for making honeycombed structures, he tested the idea by fusing two custard cups together in an improvised kiln.
In 1985, the Mirror Lab moved to the facility at 933 N. Cherry Ave., under the east wing of Arizona Stadium.
Tours are held Monday through Friday.
They will also be given during the Tucson Festival of Books on Saturday, March 10, and Sunday, March 11.
Find more information about the Mirror Lab at mirrorlab.arizona.edu
Tours also will be given Saturday, Feb. 17, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as part of the Steward Observatory’s 100-year anniversary as a campus department.
That celebration includes activities for children, panel discussions, solar observing and chats with students and faculty.
On Friday, Feb. 16, from 6 to 9 p.m., hear Chris Impey, associate dean, College of Science and Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, and stargaze with the Clark and White telescopes.
For more information, as.arizona.edu/openhouse
