Palomar Observatory October, 2006 Aluminizing
Monday, April 19th, 2010 at
6:30 pm
Washing the 14.5 ton mirror at Palomar Observatory
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Actually the disc was 20 tons and they removed 5.5 tons of glass. It now weighs 14.5 tons.
This is just guesswork, but it’s possible that the reaction of the acid mix they use to dissolve the Aluminum could react with any substance that hadn’t been washed off to make something that could damage the mirror itself.
thanks for the vid
There not crazy, and although they are supported by the Caltech, they giant Palomar mirror has to be recoated every two years in order to allow the maximum light gathering ability for its sensitive camera equipment. Unlike the telescopes used by amateur astronomers, the Palomar telescope is a research instrument and is used on every clear night possible, and because it is located in SoCal (yes, Smog City), enviornmental factors play a key role in the deterioration of the aluminum coating.
Wow… you do that every year or two? I don’t know if I’m jealous, you are crazy, or you’ve got too much money… probably all three. And the best way to remove bird droppings from a primary would be…?
Absolutely excellent clip. Fascinating.
A neat video of an important procedure for astronomers!
It makes one wonder how complicated it must be to clean and realuminize the multi-segmented Gemini and Keck Telescopes.
The idea of this kind of thing being done never went through my mind. Fascinating! Thanks for posting and keep up the good work.
The Original blank weighed 40 tons and I think 60 tons of grit was used to take off 20 tons of glass before the final polishing.
Remarkable – I sure would not want to damage that mirror. You chaps must have nerves of steel. This is what YT should be about. Anymore videos planned?
Fascination, and may explain why my own experiments into reanimation have failed.
Why do you take the trouble of washing the mirror AND then dissolving the old aluminum from the mirror? Isn’t that the wrong order?
Hey Scott – long time no talk – what a great video! Keep up the great work. Very cool.
Davin at Exploration Place
Thanks for posting this … I took a tour of the observatory some years ago … this brought back some
memories …
Excellent! Thanks for posting this.
Damn! Thats one big mirror