Putting in the three.4-meter mirror brings the power one step nearer to first gentle, set to happen in 2025.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s 3.5-meter secondary mirror is the primary piece of glass put in into the telescope in its everlasting place. Credit score: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA/F. Munoz Arancibia
On July 24, 2024, a staff on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile put in its 3.4-meter secondary mirror onto the Simonyi Survey Telescope. Its installment brings the power one step nearer to imaging the southern sky with the largest digital camera in the world.
The secondary mirror (M2) is the primary everlasting piece of the telescope’s optical system to be put in. After the mirror was constructed and polished, it was shipped to Chile in 2018 from Rochester, New York. It was saved within the observatory whereas the telescope’s mount was constructed during the last a number of years.
“Working with the mirror once more after 5 years is extraordinarily thrilling as a result of it actually looks like we’re within the house stretch,” mentioned Sandrine Thomas, deputy director for Rubin Observatory Development, in a NOIRLab press release. “Now we’ve got glass on the telescope, which brings us an exciting step nearer to revolutionary science with Rubin.”
Associated: ‘It’s going to be awesome’: How the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will survey space and time
Piece by piece
In keeping with the press launch, the Rubin Observatory’s M2 is without doubt one of the largest convex mirrors ever constructed. It measures just below 13 toes (4 meters) in diameter. In 2019, the secondary mirror underwent a four-hour course of to coat it with protecting silver to extend its sturdiness over its lifetime.
To put in the mirror, a staff used a cart to rotate it vertically after which lifted it onto the telescope mount whereas taking care to verify the glass was not pressured. As soon as the mirror was in place, staff members on the facility in Cerro Pachón activated the mirror management software program system.
The subsequent steps for the Rubin Observatory embrace reinstalling the short-term Commissioning Digital camera within the coming weeks. This smaller model of the Legacy Survey of Area and Time (LSST) digicam will probably be used to check the telescope’s optical system. Now that the secondary mirror is in place, the main focus will probably be on making ready the first mirror for set up this month and the LSST digicam installment later this yr.
As soon as the whole lot is put in and examined, the decade-long LSST is ready to begin in 2025. As soon as on-line, it’ll start mapping the night time sky and its modifications, bringing researchers nearer to deciphering dark matter and darkish vitality.
Associated: ‘It’s going to be awesome’: How the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will survey space and time
