Giant Magellan Telescope

The Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will be one of the next generation of giant ground-based telescopes that promises to revolutionize our view and understanding of the universe, even out-performing the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes at certain wavelengths. It is currently under construction at the Las Campañas Observatory in Chile. Commissioning of the telescope is scheduled to begin in 2029. Dr. James Fanson is the project manager for GMT, responsible for leading the team of engineers, managers and scientists in turning this ambitious goal into reality. He grew up with a lifelong interest in astronomy and space exploration. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Wisconsin and a doctorate at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, specializing in space telescopes, and continued to serve there for 28 years. During this time, Fanson was a member of the team that fixed the Hubble Space Telescope’s blurred vision in 1993. He later served as lead engineer for the design of the Spitzer Space Telescope and project manager for the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, two telescopes launched into space in 2003. After an extensive career with NASA, Jim now serves as Project Manager for the Giant Magellan Telescope since 2015. 🔔 Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/christianready?sub_confirmation=1 🖖 Share this video with a fellow space traveler: https://youtu.be/8ZV2p8Ui6DY 🔴 Watch my most recent upload: https://goo.gl/QbRcE2 🚀 Help me improve the channel by joining the community on Patreon https://patreon.com/launchpadastro 🚀 Check out Launch Pad merchandise! https://teespring.com/stores/launchpadastro Disclaimer: Some of these links go to one of my websites and some are affiliate links where I'll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you. 🧭 References: Giant Magellan Telescope: https://www.gmto.org/ ✅ Let's connect: For business inquiries - chris AT christianready DOT com Twitter - @launchpadastro Instagram - @launchpadastro Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LaunchPadAstronomy/ Discord - https://discord.gg/yChAuUe 📭 c/o Christian Ready P.O. Box 66 Westminster, MD 21158 United States Earth

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory board member Jim Erbs discusses the search for life with the Giant Magellan Telescope. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. cfa.harvard.edu

Join PSW Science® on March 5th at 8 PM as we welcome James Fanson, Project Manager at GMTO Corporation. James will present on the Giant Magellan Telescope, which is a 25-meter aperture telescope under construction at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. James will cover the engineering and the science behind the GMT, and the questions it will address. For more information, please see the meeting website: https://pswscience.org/meeting/2436/

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory board member Mike Tuteur discusses the search for life with the forthcoming Giant Magellan Telescope and G-CLEF (GMT-Consortium Large Earth Finder). The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. cfa.harvard.edu

The Giant Magellan Telescope will be a member of the next generation of extremely large ground-based telescopes that promises to revolutionize our view and understanding of the universe. It will be constructed in the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Commissioning of the telescope is scheduled to begin in 2029. The GMT has a unique design that offers several advantages. It is a segmented mirror telescope that employs seven of today’s largest stiff monolith mirrors as segments. Six off-axis 8.4 meter or 27-foot segments surround a central on-axis segment, forming a single optical surface 24.5 meters, or 80 feet, in diameter with a total collecting area of 368 square meters. The GMT will have a resolving power 10 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. The GMT project is the work of a distinguished international consortium of leading universities and science institutions. Link: www.GMTO.org Twitter: @GMTelescope Want to support the channel? Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EventHorizonShow Follow us at other places! Website: https://www.eventhorizonshow.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jmgeventhorizon Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmgeventhorizon/ Music featured on Event Horizon https://stellardrone.bandcamp.com/ https://migueljohnson.bandcamp.com/ https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/ https://aeriumambient.bandcamp.com/ FOOTAGE: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation NASA ESA/Hubble ESO - M.Kornmesser ESO - L.Calcada ESO - Jose Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org) NAOJ University of Warwick Goddard Visualization Studio Langley Research Center Pixabay

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory board member Colin Masson discusses how the Giant Magellan Telescope will provide astronomers with new opportunities to study the universe. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Visit cfa.harvard.edu to learn more.

Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian Director Charles Alcock discusses the CfA's search for life with the Giant Magellan Telescope.

Dr. Dave Ashby, Project Engineer for the Giant Magellan Telescope, explains the challenges of building the telescope in one of the world’s most seismically active regions and what is being done to mitigate earthquake damage. For more information about the Giant Magellan Telescope's seismic protection system, visit https://www.gmto.org/2020/12/giant-magellan-telescope-earns-top-marks-in-earthquake-safety

The Giant Magellan Telescope is an extremely large land-based telescope that has been under construction since 2015. When completed, the telescope will be the seventh large telescope on the planet. The telescope will consist of seven 27 feet diameter primary segments that will be able to observe near-infrared and optical light. These segments will have the resolving power of an 80.4 ft primary mirror and collecting area equivalent to a 72.2 ft one. This means that the Telescope is expected to have a resolving power that is at least ten times greater than that of the Hubble telescope. You may think telescopes can be located anywhere with a clear view of the sky. But it's way more complicated than that. For a telescope, especially an extremely large one, to have a good view of the sky, it needs to be placed at an altitude of about 2000 meters above sea level.

Chilean astronomers and researchers from the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University discuss the feasibility of identifying extraterrestrial life and how the Giant Magellan Telescope will be instrumental in changing our understandings of the universe. This video is part of the “24 Hours of Harvard” virtual session, “Are We Alone in the Universe?” courtesy of Giant Magellan Telescope partner institution, Harvard University. Speakers: • Dr. Miguel Roth, Vice President and Chile Legal Representative, Giant Magellan Telescope • Dr. Andrés Jordan, Director of the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics MAS; Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez • Dr. Christopher Stubbs, Samuel C. Moncher Professor of Physics and of Astronomy; Dean of Science, Harvard University • Dr. Guillermo Blanc, Professor of Astronomy, Universidad de Chile; Staff Associate, Carnegie Center • Dr. Surangkhana Rukdee, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) • Dr. Brian McLeod, Astrophysicist, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) • Dr. Cesar Fuentes, Professor, Astronomy Department, Universidad de Chile; Vice President Harvard Club de Chile • Dr. Andrew Szentgyorgyi, Associate Director, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) • Dr. Viviana Guzmán, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Physics, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; Postdoctoral researcher • Julia Garcia-Mejia, Graduate Student, Department of Astronomy, Harvard; Ford Foundation Fellow; NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Your most frequently asked questions about the Giant Magellan Telescope answered by the experts that are building it. Skip ahead to the topics that interest you most: 00:30 What science are you most excited about when Giant Magellan Telescope comes online? – Rebecca Bernstein, Giant Magellan Telescope Chief Scientist 1:19 Where is the Giant Magellan Telescope being built and what are the benefits of this location? – Francisco Figueroa, Site Engineer (Chile) 1:59 What kind of enclosure is needed for the Giant Magellan Telescope? – Bruce Bigelow, Site, Enclosure, and Facilities Manager 3:05 What is the mirror simulator and what testing will be conducted with it to ensure success in building the Giant Magellan Telescope? – Barbra Fischer, M1 Subsystem Manager 3:52 How will an astronomer get time on the telescope? – Bob Goodrich, Observatory Scientist 4:25 What are the seismic challenges faced with the Giant Magellan Telescope and what is being done to mitigate these challenges? – Dave Ashby, Project Engineer 5:27 How does the size of the Giant Magellan Telescope design challenges? – George Angeli, Project Systems Engineer 6:06 What is the Giant Magellan telescope mount? – Will Burgett, Deputy Project Manager 7:29 Why do we need bigger telescopes? – James Fanson, Giant Magellan Telescope Project Manager For more information about the Giant Magellan Telescope, visit http://gmto.org

Timelapse footage of the Giant Magellan Telescope site in Chile taken with an Earthcam webcam. The video begins in November 2018 and ends in December 2019. In the video, you can see the hard rock excavation work for the telescope pier and enclosure foundations as well as the water and electrical distribution system upgrade. More information: https://www.gmto.org/2019/03/excavation-of-gmt-pier-and-enclosure-foundations-complete/ More images: https://www.gmto.org/gallery/construction-site/ Earthcam: https://www.earthcam.com/

Ingersoll Machine Tools will play a critical role in the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope, which will help scientists explore the frontiers of the universe and seek forms of life beyond our solar system. Magellan will measure 80 feet in diameter and is billed as a next-generation giant optical infrared observatory capable of changing the history of space exploration. Rockford-based Ingersoll and MT Mechatronics of Mainz, Germany, will partner to design and manufacture the 1,800-ton precision mechanism known as the “telescope structure” that holds the Magellan’s optics. The telescope will be designed by MT Mechatronics and manufactured, assembled and tested by Ingersoll before it is installed at an observatory high in the remote Andes Mountains of Chile in 2025. “We selected Ingersoll Machine Tools and MT Mechatronics for their commitment to quality, extensive experience with astronomical telescopes and abilities to manufacture complex precision structures,” Giant Magellan Telescope Organization Project Manager Dr. James Fanson said in a news release. The nine-year contract for the telescope structure is valued at $135 million. The structure of the telescope will hold seven giant mirrors in position as they bring the light of distant stars and galaxies into focus so they can be analyzed by the scientific instrumentation built into the huge device. The structure of the telescope, complete with mirrors and instrumentation, will weigh 2,100 tons. “It will be a special day when the Giant Magellan Telescope structure is completed and placed in service in Chile, as part of one of the most complicated and fascinating projects that the world scientific community has ever undertaken,” Ingersoll Machine Tools CEO Chip Storie said. Ingersoll Machine Tools develops advanced machine tools for the aerospace, transportation, energy and other industries. The company has about 200 employees. Ingersoll International, the forerunner of Ingersoll Machine Tools, was founded in 1891 and employed about 2,000 during its heyday in the 1960s and ’70s. Ingersoll International went bankrupt in 2003 before the company was purchased by the Camozzi Group of Italy.

Latest designs of the GMT enclosure, telescope, and site at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile - enclosure design and animation by M3 Engineering.

Dr. Dae Wook Kim, Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences in the Astronomy Department at the University of Arizona, explains the new technique his team has developed to measure the shape of the GMT mirrors. Measuring the shape of the mirror is important during the polishing process, which takes place at the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab.

GMT’s second completed primary mirror was safely moved from the University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab to temporary storage near Tucson airport early in the morning of July 18, 2019.

Fifty years after the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, advances in technology are helping us understand the universe beyond our solar system. The Giant Magellan telescope is expected to be the world's largest optical telescope, once it's completed. Jim Axelrod reports. Watch "CBS This Morning" HERE: http://bit.ly/1T88yAR Download the CBS News app on iOS HERE: https://apple.co/1tRNnUy Download the CBS News app on Android HERE: https://bit.ly/1IcphuX Like "CBS This Morning" on Facebook HERE: http://on.fb.me/1LhtdvI Follow "CBS This Morning" on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Xj5W3p Follow "CBS This Morning" on Instagram HERE: http://bit.ly/1Q7NGnY Get new episodes of shows you love across devices the next day, stream local news live, and watch full seasons of CBS fan favorites anytime, anywhere with CBS All Access. Try it free! http://bit.ly/1OQA29B Each weekday morning, "CBS This Morning" co-hosts Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil deliver two hours of original reporting, breaking news and top-level newsmaker interviews in an engaging and informative format that challenges the norm in network morning news programs. The broadcast has earned a prestigious Peabody Award, a Polk Award, four News & Documentary Emmys, three Daytime Emmys and the 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast. The broadcast was also honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award as part of CBS News division-wide coverage of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Check local listings for "CBS This Morning" broadcast times.

View of the GMT summit in Chile: transitioning from the view in August 2018 to March 2019.

A prototype of the GMT's Acquisition, Guiding and Wavefront-sensing System (AGWS) rotary mechanism probe under test at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in March 2019. The device is 1.7 m long.

In this video from October 2018, work is underway at the GMT site on the 3-meter deep ring that will form the telescope pier footing. On this day, a large fraction of the edge drilling for the outside edge of the ring is completed. 11 truckloads of material are taken from the summit – 235 to date. Work continues on the outer grade beam and the summit utility tunnel.