[新闻] 世界上最大的单镜片天文望远镜（口径8.4M）即将在美国落成！！
Trucking the World's Largest Telescope MirrorBy Robert Naeye
The largest monolithic telescope mirror, one of a pair of reflectors for the Large Binocular Telescope atop Emerald Peak summit of Mount Graham, Arizona, is seen here en route to the mountain. Courtesy Robert Haag (http://www.meteoriteman.com).
November 6, 2003 | When the Hale Telescope's 5-meter (200-inch) mirror was trucked to its final destination atop Palomar Mountain in November 1947, it inched its way over a winding, 258-kilometer (160-mile) route at an average speed of 15 km (9.3 miles) per hour. The two-day affair shut down roads and enthralled a nation eager for news about the construction of the world's largest telescope.
Perhaps we've become jaded. More than a half-century later, astronomers last week used the same tender loving care when moving the world's largest monolithic telescope mirror. But no one seemed to notice. From October 23rd to 30th, a team of astronomers, engineers, police, and heavy-load specialists trucked the first of the Large Binocular Telescope's twin 8.4-meter mirrors from the University of Arizona's Mirror Lab in Tucson to the 3,190-meter (10,480-foot) Emerald Peak summit of Mount Graham. The two-stage operation required five months of preparation.
The first phase began on October 23rd, when the 16-metric-ton mirror and its 33.5-metric-ton steel transport box were loaded onto a truck at the Mirror Lab. Early the next morning, the truck hauled the assembly to the Mount Graham International Observatory base camp near the Pinaleno Mountains. The mirror and its 25-vehicle police escort averaged 72 kph as the convoy traversed 196 km.
The second and more arduous phase took place from October 27th to 30th. On the 27th the mirror was placed on a massive trailer, and for the next three days the trailer climbed 2,400 meters on a gravel road called Swift Trail at the snail-like pace of 1.6 kph. The trailer rode on 48 wheels, each with its own independent hydraulic system to maintain the mirror's upright posture as the trailer negotiated 47 km of winding road and narrow, hairpin turns. Telescope assembly supervisor J. T. Williams inspected every foot of Swift Trail beforehand, and observatory and Arizona Department of Transportation staffers smoothed over bumps and ruts in the gravel.
With the transport successfully completed, the mirror is scheduled to see first light in the summer of 2004. The Mirror Lab will soon begin polishing the second 8.4-meter mirror, which should reach Emerald Peak in early 2005. The two mirrors will operate in tandem as an interferometer, making the Large Binocular Telescope one of the premier optical observatories in the world.
根据S&T 又是老美的 白箱装的是什么？是镜片吗？ 是 车要是翻沟里可就惨咯~~~ :) 欧洲8米2，日本8米3，美国再来个8米4 的，哈哈……
大一点也是大嘛。
哈哈，说不准谁再来个8.41的;) 没来个8.401米的，就不错了……哈哈哈！
只要你对着那宝贝主镜吹几口气，它就差不多膨胀到那么大了：P 人家要是用的零膨胀玻璃呢？:D 那车要翻了我们就去捡来啊！ 那样早就碎了……再零膨胀也不可能也点不膨胀。
最初由 Melipal 发表人家要是用的零膨胀玻璃呢？:D
8米多的镜子膨胀0.001是可能的。 唉~中国玻璃啊.
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