In May 2021, University of Arizona’s Tech Park became the new home for the test cell, mirror simulator, and actuator calibration system. Now, they will undergo testing to validate the mirror’s active support control system functionality and to guarantee that it is safe for mirror installation.

Get to know more: watch the first episode of Allure of the Universe, available at the GMT Brasil Youtube channel.

The GMT telescope will weigh approximately 2,106 tons. It will float on a 50 microns thick film of oil, which is  half as thick as a paper sheet. A micron equals one-thousandth of a millimeter or one-millionth of a meter, which will allow the GMT to essentially move without friction, due to its ability to compensate for Earth’s rotation, while tracking celestial bodies throughout the night sky.

Cerro Las Campanas, at the Las Campanas Observatory (LCO), Atacama Desert, will be home to one of the world’s biggest ground-based telescopes. The mountain is 2,500 meters high and known for its outstanding seeing with over 300 nights of clear skies per year - a result of being in a desert region, where there is only a small occurrence of clouds.

The Large Magellanic Cloud, namesake to the telescope, is a dwarf satellite galaxy located in the Milky Way. The name was given by the portuguese navigator Fernão de Magalhães (1480-1521) during one of these voyages at the beginning of the 16th century. - he also observed the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is a neighboring dwarf galaxy. 

To protect the 22-store building and avoid damage to its instruments, the project had to design an innovative protection system that successfully met the requirements of an independent review panel of internationally renowned experts. 

The GMT will have 7 separate, circular segments each are 1.05 meters in diameter with the same geometry as the primary segments, which are capable of correcting images blurred by the atmospheric distortion effect.

First, almost 20 tons of glass are melted in a honeycomb-shaped mold, inside a giant rotating oven at 1160ºC for 4 hours. The temperature is cooled rapidly to 900ºC and then it cools slowly for three months to avoid thermal strains. After that, rough grinding of the front and back surfaces is performed.