gubmint project...
i can't even give the acronym for it...
it's rather crazy, i'll see if i can show in progress pics...
i'm staff there, w/ little time to take classes...Oh and I forget, are you a student or graduated?
And do you have any suggestions for getting one of these telescopes put at the other end of the galaxy faster than the speed of light? That way, we can see what happened in the past and know if Mel Gibson's interpretation of Jesus' cross ride was factual.
Do you guys actually pour the glass or do you buy it that way?
edit: Is it even glass?
we buy our glass in chunks, and excise any bad parts. its a type of glass called E6, a borosilicate much like pyrex, but more expensive and better properties.
the chunks are then carefully laid into the mold...
we rotate the furnace at a set rpm to impart a parabolic curve to the glass as it melts and fills the mold...
we then slowly decrease the speed and temperature over 3 months...
Does this shit have to be done in a clean room? And why haven't we developed something better/lighter than glass to do this job? For Christs sake, Galileo used glass.
Do you ever get time on the telescopes themselves? Could you take a picture of the constellation Eridanus. It always reminds me of Beerad's dry asshole.