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“Perfect” Mirrors Cast For LSST: eldavojohn writes ‘The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (which was partially funded by Gates & Co.) announced a world record casting for its single-piece primary and tertiary mirror blanks, cast at the University of Arizona. From the announcement: ‘The Mirror Lab team opened the furnace for a close-up look at the cooled 51,900-pound mirror blank, which consists of an outer 27.5-foot diameter (8.4-meter) primary mirror and an inner 16.5-foot (5-meter) third mirror cast in one mold. It is the first time a combined primary and tertiary mirror has been produced on such a large scale.”

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(Via Slashdot.)

Coronado Filters, makers of solar telescopes has a gallery of awe inspiring, user submitted images. That giant fire ball in the sky never looked so good. Some of the more amazing photos look to be taken at sunrise/set and feature power poles, trees, and even a few birds silhouetted in the foreground. If anyone wants to buy me one of these telescopes for xmas I won’t be disappointed!