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The Giant Magellan Telescope’s adaptive secondary mirrors are being built to counteract the natural blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere.

When you look up at the sky on a dark night, you’ll notice that the stars appear to twinkle. As light passes through Earth’s atmosphere, it is distorted by turbulence, creating a twinkling effect from our perspective. Each stream of starlight is refracted by changes in temperature and density in the atmosphere. Similar to the effect of looking up through the surface when underwater in a swimming pool, light from stars seen through our atmosphere—whether by a telescope or with the naked eye—appears to twinkle and jump around.

Some locations are better than others for viewing the sky. Locations at high altitudes with stable climates, low humidity and cloud cover, and dark skies (low light pollution from manmade lights) make the best sites for telescopes. The site of the Giant Magellan Telescope, atop Las Campanas Peak in Chile’s Atacama Desert, is among the best in the world. The Las Campanas Observatory is at an altitude of almost 8,500 feet, in a remote location, in a low humidity desert. It is one of the best sites for a telescope in the world. However, we cannot overcome atmospheric turbulence from the ground through location alone.

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s adaptive secondary mirrors (ASM) are being built to counteract the natural blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere. With ASM technology, the optical clarity in next generation ground-based telescopes will surpass even that of space telescopes.

In parallel with advances in computer technologies in the 1990s, engineers have been developing the optical technologies used to counteract this natural blurring effect that’s been such a problem for astronomers. Enter adaptive optics, an astronomer’s “magic wand” for correcting the optical influence of the atmosphere. Atmospheric adaptive optics and ground-layer adaptive optics instruments work to counteract the distortions caused by ground-layer turbulence.

Making the Atmosphere Disappear

Frank Groark, deputy optics and optical metrology manager for the Giant Magellan Telescope, explains that “when measuring atmospheric turbulence, adaptive secondary mirrors implement the opposite distortion till the reflected starlight is perfectly corrected.” Building on the technology used at the Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona, the Giant Magellan Telescope will employ the fourth-generation design of what’s known as adaptive secondary mirrors (ASMs), which are sophisticated hardware that put into action the technology and techniques encompassed by adaptive optics. The ASMs put into action the corrections determined from wavefront sensors, computers, and sophisticated algorithms, changing shape thousands of times per second using over 600 magnetic actuators, counteracting atmospheric turbulence in real time.

Exploded View of Giant Magellan Telescope Adaptive Secondary Mirror Rendering. Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

“These optical technologies do things that I wouldn’t have thought was ever possible twenty years ago,” shared Frank. Before ASM technology, astronomers had to rely solely on natural seeing with ground-based telescopes. Today, deformable mirrors are the most widely used technology in wavefront shaping applications for adaptive optics. The Giant Magellan Telescope has seven ASMs that hang above seven 8.4-meter primary mirrors, reflecting light back down to the focal plane of the telescope.

Each ASM is paired and aligned with one of the giant primary mirrors and is responsible for receiving the distorted light reflected from its corresponding primary mirror. With adaptive optics in the secondary mirrors, only two reflections are required to reach the focal plane with these corrections applied. These mirrors deform their surface at a rapid rate (2,000 times per second) refining the light before sending it to the telescope’s scientific instruments in the form of a concentrated beam to be analyzed.

Just as the telescope’s primary mirrors are exceptional (the largest mirrors made anywhere today), the ASMs are also exceptional—made using especially thin glass surfaces. Their reflective surface, known as a “thin shell face sheet,” is extremely flexible because of its 1.05-meter diameter and 2-millimeter thickness, the thickness of a nickel. The thin shell face sheet is made of Zerodur, a structurally stable, glass-ceramic material that is extremely insensitive to thermal changes. The thin shell face sheet will undergo polishing for approximately one year to reach the desired parabolic shape. Magnets are then adhered to the mirror frame, leaving a gap of 150 microns (equivalent to a sheet of paper) between the mirror’s back surface and its frame. Hovering unattached, the thin shell face sheet can deform as directed by the 675 independently controlled voice coil actuators in the frame.

Progress on Optical Technologies

Giant Magellan Telescope Adaptive Secondary Mirror Reference Body. Credit: AdOptica Giant Magellan Telescope Adaptive Secondary Mirror Reference Body. Credit: AdOptica Giant Magellan Telescope Adaptive Secondary Mirror Optical Surface. Credit: Safran Reosc.

The Giant Magellan Telescope’s first off axis ASM is currently in production with company called AdOptica, a renowned telescope and astronomical instruments design consortium. Following a manufacturing readiness review last year, a subscale Zerodur and full-scale nylon prototype demonstrated the machining process for fabrication. AdOptica’s subcontractor and leader in high performance optomechanical systems, Safran-Reosc, is producing the thin shell face sheet, and the polishing and testing of the concave optical surface is complete. Thinning operations are underway and are approaching the specified 2 mm thickness.

Manufacturing of the reference body has been completed by the University of Arizona and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) in South Korea. The monolithic Zerodur blank has been machined to produce the lightweight, pocketed, structure. With construction and inspection of the main structural components finalized, the first of seven ASMs for the Giant Magellan Telescope is anticipated to be completed next year.

Giant Magellan Telescope Adaptive Secondary Mirror System first unit positioner mounted on test stand (yellow frame) at A.D.S. International (left). Giant Magellan Telescope Adaptive Secondary Mirror System first unit deformable mirror structural model integrated at A.D.S. International (right). Credit: AdOptica

With ASM technology, the optical clarity in next generation ground-based telescopes will surpass even that of space telescopes. The extremely large, segmented telescope will advance the future of ground-based optical infrared astronomy well beyond the capabilities of existing 10-meter class telescopes thanks to its ground layer adaptive optics over a full field of view—the widest field of view in the 30-meter class. This enables the telescope to see fainter objects with unrivaled resolution and sensitivity, more than 50 million times the light gathering power of the human eye.

These pivotal technologies allow for precise measurements of distances, dynamics, chemistry, and masses of celestial objects in deep space, expanding humanity’s reach in the search for life.

Learn more about the Giant Magellan Telescope’s adaptive secondary mirrors here.

Author Savannah Gasparo Assistant Director of Communications swinans@gmto.org 626-204-0547

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From 200 creative entries and more than 12,000 public votes, four winners of the inaugural Extrasolar Digital Art Competition were announced in Chile.

SANTIAGO — October 10, 2023 — Winners of the inaugural Extrasolar Digital Art Competition were announced today. The competition, created by Fundación Antenna and the Giant Magellan Telescope, was launched early in the year to promote creativity and the intersection between art and astronomy in the country of Chile. The competition honored four digital creators with artistic recognition within the country and a monetary award for their work.

The first year of the competition was well received by the Chilean art community, with more than 200 entries from 10 regions of the country. Contestants included both amateurs and professionals in digital creation, ranging in age from 14 to 65 years old. The artists where asked to submit creative proposals on how they imagine distant planets, and presented their work using various artistic disciplines in their videos such as stop motion, digital animation, and even artificial intelligence to recreate unknown planets.

After four months of open competition, the final selection process was carried out by a panel of judges made up of Rebecca Bernstein, Chief Scientist for the Giant Magellan Telescope; Daniel Cruz, Director of Chile’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and Carolina Pino, artist and professor at the UAI Design Lab. In addition to the judges’ verdict, a public vote was held to democratize the selection and bring art closer to the people.

Ignacio Concha was the winner of the Extrasolar 2023 Digital Art Competition, and honorable mentions went to the creative duo Rafaella Pagliettini and Ignacia García and the collective formed by Simón Jara and Daniel Reyes. Through a public vote of more than 12,000 people, the winner of the Public Vote Award was Felipe Solís, whose work Astros Soñados (Dreamy Stars) obtained more than 2,000 votes.

The winners received $5 million CLP for first place, $2 million CLP for the winner of the public vote and $1.5 million CLP each for the honorable mentions. 

Alfonso Díaz, Executive Director of Fundación Antenna, congratulated the winners and said that “I hope that this award will be a boost to their careers. Many of the applicants are young people and high school students with great talent and creative potential. We hope that Fundación Antenna will continue to help motivate more people to discover their artistic vein. This is our contribution to a more creative and innovative country.”

“Congratulations to the four winners of this first version of Extrasolar,” said Oscar Contreras, Vice President and representative of the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile. “It fills us with joy to know that science and astronomy are an engine of inspiration and creativity to the residents of Chile, allowing us to explore through our imagination. The Giant Magellan Telescope will allow us to explore the universe and, together with Extrasolar, also promote artistic creation in our country.”

Meet the Winners 

First Place

Ignacio Andrés Concha Navarrete (33 years old) with the video El Cementerio Espacial (Space Cemetery) (watch here).

Ignacio is an industrial civil engineer who loves technology and enjoys creating space video games together with a community of people.

His work invites us to reflect on the beauty of the unexplored Cosmos. It introduces us to an icy exoplanet that protects the memory of past souls in the form of fairies. These represent the generations that will pass on to make space exploration possible, seeking to awaken empathy and comprehension of the unknown. 

Public Vote and Young Talent Award Winner

Felipe Alonso Solís Álvarez (17 years old) with the video Astros Soñados (watch here).

Since he was a child, Felipe has been fascinated by art. At the age of 12 he started making 2D animations for YouTube, and at 16 he began playing with visual effects. 

In his work, he presents 3 exoplanets, inspired by the winds of HD 189733b and the rains of WASP-76B, and he shows what would happen if there was human interaction with these unknown worlds. 

Honorable Mention

Rafaella Pagliettini (16 years old) and Ignacia García (15 years old) with their work Trazando Sueños Cósmicos (Charting Cosmic Dreams) (watch here).

Rafaella has been interested in fantasy books, art and film since she was a child. She started making her video with a classmate for a school project. And she learned that they had been awarded honorable mention just after finishing a math test.

Made with stop motion and drawn by hand, their work is about the adventures of Robinson the robot, who follows a red balloon on a long journey that ends on an unknown exoplanet.

Honorable Mention

Agencia Colectiva, formed by Simón Jara (34 years old) and Daniel Reyes (43 years old) with their work Micelio A (Mycelium A) (watch here).

This artistic duo has been working together for 2 years. They have already presented their exhibit Extraña Dignidad (Strange Dignity) at the MAC Forestal this year.

The work Micelio A presents a fictional piece with Japanese aesthetics about an exoplanet where there are only mushrooms and stones, and where the day goes by so quickly that the shadows are constantly moving back and forth. These shadows give the impression that the mushrooms are “playing” with the stones, mounting one on top of the other and giving us true art installations or compositions.

The Extrasolar competition is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). It is broadcast by NTV -TVN’s cultural channel-, Radio Concierto and Ladera Sur, with the collaboration of the Mirador Interactive Museum (MIM), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) and the Museum of Visual Arts (MAVI).

About Fundación Antenna 

Since 2015, Fundación Antenna has been dedicated to bringing art and culture closer to the people in Chile. To this end, it carries out projects with organizations and companies that make a significant contribution to the community, such as Murales para Chile (Murals for Chile), where local muralists painted the walls of 10 schools in different regions, positively impacting more than 8,000 students. See more at www.antenna.cl 

About the Giant Magellan Telescope

The Giant Magellan Telescope is the future of space exploration from Earth. Using seven of the world’s largest mirrors, the 25.4-meter telescope will produce the most detailed images ever taken of our Universe. It will uncover the cosmic mysteries of dark matter, investigate the origins of chemical elements, and verify signs of life on distant planets for the first time. The Giant Magellan Telescope is the work of the GMTO Corporation, an international consortium of thirteen research institutions representing six countries. The telescope is under construction in Chile and anticipated to be completed in the late 2020s.

The Universe Awaits at giantmagellan.org.

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Seven of the world’s largest mirrors will search the Universe for life beyond Earth

PASADENA, CA — September 26, 2023 — The Giant Magellan Telescope begins the four-year process to fabricate and polish its seventh and final primary mirror, the last required to complete the telescope’s 368 square meter light collecting surface, the world’s largest and most challenging optics ever produced. Together, the mirrors will collect more light than any other telescope in existence, allowing humanity to unlock the secrets of the Universe by providing detailed chemical analyses of celestial objects and their origin.

Last week, the University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab closed the lid on nearly 20 tons of the purest optical glass inside a one-of-a-kind oven housed beneath the stands of the Arizona Wildcats Football Stadium. The spinning oven will heat the glass to 1,165°C so as it melts, it is forced outward to form the mirror’s curved paraboloid surface. Measuring 8.4-meters in diameter—about two stories tall when standing on edge—the mirror will cool over the next three months before moving into the polishing stage.

At 50 million times more powerful than the human eye, “the telescope will make history through its future discoveries,” shares Buell Jannuzi, Principal Investigator for the fabrication of the Giant Magellan Telescope primary mirror segments, Director of Steward Observatory, and Head of the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. “We are thrilled to be closing in on another milestone in the fabrication of the Giant Magellan Telescope.”

University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab staff members placing chunks of Ohara E6 low expansion glass into a mold for casting the Giant Magellan Telescope’s seventh primary mirror, September 2023. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

The most recently completed primary mirror is ready for integration into a giant support system prototype early next year for final optical performance testing. This testing will serve as the dress rehearsal for all seven primary mirrors. Once assembled, all seven mirrors will work in concert as one monolithic 25.4-meter mirror—a diameter equal to the length of a full-grown blue whale—resulting in up to 200 times the sensitivity and four times the image resolution of today’s most advanced space telescopes.

The Giant Magellan Telescope will be the first extremely large telescope to complete its primary mirror array. With strong operational infrastructure completed at the telescope site in Chile, focused manufacturing is taking place on the telescope’s critical subsystem before starting on the enclosure.

“We are in an important stage of fabrication, with much of the manufacturing happening in the United States,” shares Robert Shelton, President of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

The 39-meter-tall telescope structure is being manufactured with 2,100 tons of American steel at a newly-built manufacturing facility in Rockford, Illinois, and fabrication of the telescope’s first of seven adaptive secondary mirrors—a one for one pair with each of the seven primary mirrors—is underway.

“The combination of light-gathering power, efficiency, and image resolution will enable us to make new discoveries across all fields of astronomy,” shares Rebecca Bernstein, Chief Scientist for the Giant Magellan Telescope. “We will have a unique combination of capabilities for studying planets at high spatial and spectral resolution, both of which are key to determining if a planet has a rocky composition like our Earth, if it contains liquid water, and if its atmosphere contains the right combination of molecules to indicate the presence of life.”

The telescope is expected to see first light by the end of the decade, and will work to answer some of humanity’s most pressing questions: Where did we come from? Are we alone in the Universe?

About

The Giant Magellan Telescope is the future of space exploration from Earth. Using seven of the world’s largest mirrors, the 25.4-meter telescope will produce the most detailed images ever taken of our Universe. It will uncover the cosmic mysteries of dark matter, investigate the origins of chemical elements, and verify signs of life on distant planets for the first time. The Giant Magellan Telescope is the work of the GMTO Corporation, an international consortium of thirteen research institutions representing six countries. The telescope is under construction in Chile and anticipated to be completed in the late 2020s.

The Universe Awaits at giantmagellan.org.

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Scientific work has long been a powerful source of inspiration for the arts. The Giant Magellan Telescope – under construction in the north of Chile at Las Campanas Observatory – in partnership with Antenna Foundation – connecting people with art and culture – summon digital creators ages 14 and up in this pioneer initiative.

SANTIAGO, CHILE — May 16, 2023 — Science and art come together with Extrasolar, the first Chilean digital art contest that invites both the youth and adults to imagine what the universe is like beyond our solar system. With a first prize of $5 million pesos, the initiative – driven by Fundación Antenna and the Giant Magellan Telescope – seeks to promote the relationship between astronomy and art through creativity, in order to visualize distant exoplanets.

The call is open from May 15 – July 31. During this period, Chileans and foreigners residing in Chile may submit one unpublished work (digital animation or video) of 40 seconds or less. An outstanding group of juries representing both the scientific community and art community will select a first prize winner who will be awarded $5 million pesos. The contest will also call for a public vote, including a second prize award of $2 million pesos, and two honorable mentions with a prize award of $1.5 million pesos each. To participate, upload a link to your video and provide information as requested at www.extrasolar.cl.

Alfonso Díaz, Executive Director of Antenna Foundation, notes that “there is a point where science and art connect in a wonderful way because what people cannot see, they can imagine. Long before we even dreamed of knowing the universe beyond our planet, there were artists and illustrators imagining what constellations and planets may be like. We invite everyone who wants to use their creativity in service of science to participate in the Extrasolar contest”.

“Through this contest, we want to share and encourage critical and creative thinking that characterizes scientific and astronomical exploration, it’s discoveries and possibilities. This initiative is a great opportunity to find new ways to link this frontier science with the public. The Giant Magellan Telescope will be the most powerful telescope in the world. Its unique design will produce the highest possible image resolution of the universe over the widest field of view ever achieved by any telescope, allowing humanity to answer big questions about the creation of the universe and our place in it,” shares Oscar Contreras, Vice President and Legal Representative in Chile for the Giant Magellan Telescope.

About

Antenna Foundation is a foundation for the development of Chilean visual arts. We collaborate with enterprises and organizations to transform people through arts and culture. Learn more at antenna.cl.

The Giant Magellan Telescope is the future of space exploration. Using seven of the world’s largest mirrors, the 25.4-meter telescope will produce the most detailed images ever taken of our Universe. It will uncover the cosmic mysteries of dark matter, investigate the origins of chemical elements, and verify signs of life on distant planets for the first time. The Giant Magellan Telescope is the work of the GMTO Corporation, an international consortium of leading research institutions representing five countries. The telescope is under construction in Chile and anticipated to be completed in the late 2020s. The Universe Awaits at giantmagellan.org.

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A look inside the Giant Magellan Telescope’s primary mirror support system

When far away light from an object in the universe is collected by a telescope, it first encounters a special surface called a primary mirror. These mirrors are fabricated to be as giant as possible so the human eye can see farther into deep space than ever before. They are also made to be as smooth as possible so that its surface has no imperfections greater than 1/1,000th the width of a human hair. Crafting a telescope’s primary mirror takes many years and is a marvel of modern engineering.

The Giant Magellan Telescope uses seven of the world’s largest and heaviest primary mirrors to collect light from the universe. Each are 8.4 meters in diameter, weigh 17 tons, and are arranged in a unique flower pattern to create a seamless 368 square meter light collecting surface. While the primary mirrors are incredibly important to the Giant Magellan’s ability to do science, the complex process of transforming the light it collects into science begins in the support system that protects these giant mirrors. Just below the monolithic 25.4-meter-primary mirror sits seven primary mirror support systems – also known as mirror cells – that act in unison to focus the light, align optical components and correct imaging deformations due to gravity and extreme temperature swings. Each mirror support system houses the most advanced optical technologies on Earth, including a thermal control and active optics system.

University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab staff members in the foreground looking up at the back of a Giant Magellan primary mirror. Image credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

Meeting the active control requirements on large aperture telescopes, like the Giant Magellan, demands new innovations in technology. “Such advancements come with many technical risks which require detailed prototyping and testing of the engineering designs,” shares Trupti Ranka, a senior control systems engineer for the Giant Magellan.

Trupti Ranka, a senior control systems engineer for the Giant Magellan, adjusting a triple actuator inside the Giant Magellan Telescope mirror support system prototype at the University of Arizona Tech Park. Image credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

Each mirror support system must be compact and lightweight for the telescope to be stiff and stable in resisting image quality interruptions. As a precursor to the fabrication of the seven mirror support systems, a full-scale prototype has been built to validate design decisions and demonstrate the performance. The prototype includes the hardware and software that control the shape, position, and thermal state of a 17-ton single primary mirror on the Giant Magellan. The precision control technologies within the mirror support system allow for real-time shaping and positioning within 200 nanometers. With this, all seven primary mirrors work in concert, behaving as one monolithic 25.4-meter mirror.

Active Optics System

An array of interface features is attached to the mechanisms that support and control the primary mirror – active supports and static supports. Active supports include 170 pneumatic actuators that lift and shape the primary mirror through applied force, as well as six linear actuators that position the primary mirror in six degrees-of-freedom.

Single actuator (left) and triple actuator (right). The mechanical parts of the actuators are assembled at Texas A&M University and integrated into the prototype mirror support system at the University of Arizona Tech Park. The software control system built into these actuators sends commands and read back results in just 10 milliseconds. Image credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

While the active supports allow for precise control of the primary mirror figure and position, the static supports hold the primary mirror in its resting position with wire rope isolators. The telescope will be exposed to regular seismic events in Chile’s Atacama Desert – one of the most seismically active regions in the world. During an earthquake, over 300 static supports work to secure the primary mirror by lifting it against gravity through distributed forces to its back surface. All while combating excessive stress on the glass from the elastic and thermal deformation of the steel weldment. Ranka shares that in addition to the static supports, “dampers, that have the same function as shock absorbers in our cars,” have been implemented into the actuators to mitigate the motion of the glass during an earthquake.

Thermal Control System

Simulation of the magnitude of refractive index spatial gradient distribution on the telescope enclosure mid-sectional plane. The Giant Magellan’s computational fluid dynamics model is used to simulate and analyze the aero-optical environment around the observatory. Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

“As the night air cools, the mismatch in temperature between the air and the primary mirror causes localized turbulence. To minimize this effect, called the seeing effect, it is important to match the temperature of the mirror to the ambient air around it,” shares Ranka. A closed-cycle forced-air convection system is used to maintain a thermal equilibrium within the telescope enclosure and reduce thermal gradients across the primary mirror surface. Fourteen air handler units utilizing CO2 based refrigeration – the first system of its kind used for telescopes – are mounted to the interior of the mirror support system to circulate the air.

Prototype Testing

At the University of Arizona Tech Park, the prototype has undergone functional, performance, and safety testing with a steel surrogate mirror, simulating the mass, center of gravity, and stiffness of a primary mirror. Last year, the synchronized functions of all components were successfully demonstrated in a raising sequence of the surrogate mirror. Ranka described, “in this sequence the weight of the surrogate mirror is carefully offloaded to the force actuators from the static supports and able to move freely in a controlled fashion.”

Sequence of raising the surrogate mirror off the static supports, translation of the surrogate mirror along the Y-axis +/- 6 mm at a max speed of 50 um/sec, returning to the nominal position, and lowering onto the static supports. Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

Of the seven primary mirrors, three are complete and three are in various stages of fabrication at the University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab. The most recently completed primary mirror has been primed for integration into the prototype later this year for significant testing. This testing will serve as the dress rehearsal for all seven primary mirrors. In anticipation of the testing, Ranka expressed that “this is the only chance to ensure the integrated mirror support system can control the optical surface of the primary mirror as needed.”

To learn more about the Giant Magellan’s supporting structure, explore the telescope mount and view our image gallery of the fabrication.

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