GREAT TELESCOPE

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 July 1934, Page 2

GREAT TELESCOPE

MISHAP TO MIRROR

America’s effort to create the world’s largest telescope has been retarded by an unfortunate accident, says the “News-Chronicle.” The telescope is to measure 200 in in diameter, and is expected to add about 500,000,000 more stars to the 1,500,000,000 stars at present within photographic range of the lOOin telescope at Mount Wilson, California. The mishap took place while glass experts were engaged in the Corning glass works in pouring the molten glass for the reflector into a huge mould. In the course of this process, a task in glass-making never before attempted, several mould cores broke and floated to the surface of the white-hot molten glass. The glass engineers engaged in the task say they believe that it will be possible to fish the cores out of the molten glass, but they admit that the mishap will increase the gamble of final success. It will certainly complicate and prolong the three-year task of grinding and polishing the huge mirror of the telescope.

The cores which have caused the trouble, which may yet prove the ruin of the gigantic mirror, were designed to provide indentations at the bottom of the mirror to accommodate metal fittings to clamp the mirror to the bottom end of the telescope. It was estimated that it would take ten months for the mirror to cool and anneal. Until then it will probably not be known whether the mishap has created flaws that cannot be eradicated in the mighty mirror.