Rubin Observatory’s 3.5-meter secondary mirror installed

Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s 3.5-meter secondary mirror has been put in on the Simonyi Survey Telescope on Cerro Pachón in Chile. The glass mirror—made by Corning Superior Optics and polished by L3Harris Applied sciences—is the primary everlasting element of the telescope’s state-of-the-art, wide-field optical system to be put in and can quickly contribute to a greater understanding of our universe.

The summit crew on the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has put in the three.5-meter glass secondary mirror meeting on the Simonyi Survey Telescope.

This achievement marks the profitable integration of the primary everlasting element of the telescope‘s optical system, which additionally consists of an 8.4-meter main/tertiary mirror and the LSST Digital camera—the most important digital digital camera on the earth. Rubin Observatory is poised to kick off a brand new period in astronomy and astrophysics with the 10-year Legacy Survey of Area and Time (LSST), starting in 2025.

The set up of the entire mirror meeting was the fruits of a few years of laborious work and planning by groups within the U.S. and in Chile. After fabrication and sharpening, the glass clean and the mirror cell meeting parts had been shipped to Chile in 2018 and saved contained in the observatory whereas work continued on the telescope mount.

The secondary mirror was coated with protected silver at Rubin Observatory in 2019 and built-in with the mirror cell in early July 2024 earlier than being put in on the telescope.

“Working with the mirror once more after 5 years is extraordinarily thrilling as a result of it actually seems like we’re within the house stretch,” mentioned Sandrine Thomas, Deputy Director for Rubin Observatory Building, “Now now we have glass on the telescope, which brings us an exhilarating step nearer to revolutionary science with Rubin.”

At slightly below 4 meters in diameter, Rubin’s secondary mirror is among the largest convex mirrors ever made. The ten-centimeter-thick monolithic mirror clean was manufactured by Corning Superior Optics in Canton, New York, utilizing Corning ULE Glass (Extremely-Low Enlargement Glass).

“Corning is happy with our almost 20-year collaboration with the Rubin Observatory crew,” mentioned Claude Echahamian, VP & GM Corning Superior Optics.

“Because of this, Corning’s cutting-edge ULE mirror clean for the Simonyi Survey Telescope will assist to allow crystal clear views of deep space, revealing tens of millions of beforehand unknown solar system objects with extra element than ever earlier than.”

Following supply in 2009, the mirror clean was saved for 5 years at Harvard College in Cambridge, MA earlier than being polished and completed at L3Harris Applied sciences in Rochester, New York. L3Harris used novel measurement strategies within the sharpening course of to handle such a big precision convex floor.

L3Harris additionally designed and constructed the secondary mirror cell meeting, which consists of a stiff metal mounting plate, 72 axial and 6 tangent actuators (that assist and management the form of the skinny mirror underneath gravity), the mirror cell electronics and sensors, a thermal management system, and the mirror management system.

“Our 55-year legacy of designing and establishing high-end optical techniques for space and floor continues with the world’s largest lively secondary mirror system constructed for Rubin Observatory,” mentioned Charles Clarkson, Vice President and Basic Supervisor, Imaging Techniques, Area and Airborne Techniques, L3Harris.

“With this milestone, we’re nearer to pushing scientific frontiers and charting the universe like by no means earlier than, and we sit up for the science that will likely be found.”

To put in the mirror meeting onto the telescope mount, the Rubin summit crew used a specialised cart to rotate the mirror meeting to a vertical place.They then lifted the meeting off of the cart and onto the telescope mount whereas sustaining lively system management to forestall including stress to the glass.

After bolting the secondary mirror meeting in place, the summit crew linked the mirror cell to the electronics cupboard on the telescope mount and reactivated the mirror’s software program management system.

Within the coming weeks, the Rubin crew will re-install the Commissioning Digital camera, a a lot smaller model of the LSST Digital camera, that will likely be used to conduct a wide range of check campaigns on the optical system together with each mirrors.

The crew may also now concentrate on making ready the first mirror meeting for telescope integration in August, and the LSST Digital camera for set up on the telescope later this 12 months.