2024 was a year of construction milestones and new partnerships. Two institutions joined our international consortium and we progressed in the design, manufacturing, and assembly of multiple components on the Giant Magellan Telescope, now 40% under construction.

This is our story of 2024 told visually.

January

Workers at Japan’s Chiba Kogaku glass factory break a clay pot to extract a 1,500-pound chunk of a highly pure glass called E6. Produced using a century-old process, the glass will eventually be shipped to scientists at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Credit: Christopher Payne, chrispaynephoto.com

National Geographic went behind the scenes to learn how the Giant Magellan Telescope mirrors are made in The Glass Age. Dive deeper into how chemical elements come full circle in building the world’s largest optical mirrors at the University of Arizona.

February

Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) Research Fellow Shiang-Yu Wang (left) and Giant Magellan Telescope President Robert N. Shelton (right) at the GMTO Corporation Pasadena offices following ASIAA joining the consortium. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA), a distinguished research institute based in Taiwan, joined our international consortium. This addition expanded our global representation to the United States, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan.

March

Completed Zerodur Thin Shell for Giant Magellan Telescope Adaptive Secondary Mirror during final inspection prior to shipping to ADS International in Italy. Credit: Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

Three important milestones for the adaptive secondary mirror development and risk reduction were completed, including the delivery of the first off-axis Zerodur thin shell. The off-axis, parabolic reference body and thin shell are the first off-axis adaptive secondary mirror components to be built. This work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement Award No. (FAIN) 2013059.

April

Barbara Fischer (right), Primary Mirror Subsystems Manager, and Marianne Cox (second from right), Software and Controls Manager, shared stories from their careers and advice for the next generation on a Women in STEM panel moderated by Valerie Hirschberg (left), Education and Outreach Manager, at the Los Angeles City of STEM and Makers Faire. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

We participated in the City of STEM + Los Angeles Maker Faire, which drew over 25,000 attendees, including a Giant Magellan Telescope booth and a Women in STEM panel where members of our team shared stories from their careers and advice for the next generation. 

May

University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab staff member cleaning refractory material from the back surface of the Giant Magellan’s seventh and final mirror. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

The final steps of the casting process for our seventh and final mirror segment were cleaning the ceramic fiber mold material out of the mirror. The clean out of the mirror was done in the spring at the University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab and was followed by a thorough inspection of the mirror, including the internal structure. 

June

Nighttime exterior telescope rendering with support site buildings in the foreground. Credit: IDOM / Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

In partnership with IDOM, the telescope enclosure passed its final design review. At over 5,000 metric tons, the 65-meter-tall enclosure will be able to complete a full rotation in four minutes and be equipped with 46-meter-tall shutter doors that reveal the 25.4-meter telescope. The site will expose the telescope and enclosure to regular seismic events and the enclosure is designed to survive the strongest earthquakes expected over the lifetime of the observatory.

July

Trupti Ranka (right), Principal Opto-Mechanical Control Systems Engineer, speaking with SPIE conference participant at the US Extremely Large Telescope Program booth in the exhibition hall at SPIE’s biennial technical conference, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, in Yokohama, Japan. Credit: SPIE

SPIE’s biennial technical conference, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, took place in Yokohama, Japan. Nearly a dozen participants from the Giant Magellan Telescope engaged in the event to provide talks, chair sessions, present at poster sessions, and volunteer at the exhibitor booth. William Burgett, Giant Magellan Telescope Project Manager, gave an invited talk on the status of telescope construction and what’s ahead.

August

Giant Magellan Telescope mount track segment being lifted by Ingersoll Machine Tools technician into the concrete pit at Ingersoll Machine Tools facility in Rockford, IL. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

Manufacturing and assembly of the largest telescope mount built in the United States began at Ingersoll Machine Tools Inc. in Illinois. Additional manufacturing of the 39-meter-tall precision moving structure is taking place in Alabama and Michigan.

September

Children interact with Universo Expansivo’s ‘Astronomy for All Senses’ tactile kit materials at the Los Angeles City of STEM and Makers Faire. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

With support from Parque Explora, Red Aprender, and leading community organizations across Chile and the United States, the Giant Magellan Telescope launched Universo Expansivo, a free multisensory astronomy education program for both informal and formal learning environments.

October

Primary mirror support system prototype integration with completed primary mirror for testing at the University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

In association with work funded by the National Science Foundation, a completed 8.4-meter-diameter primary mirror was successfully installed into a support system prototype for testing at the University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab. This work was sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement Award No. (FAIN) 2332336.

November

Group of event participants outside of Giant Magellan Telescope mobile planetarium at Ladera Sur Festival in Santiago, Chile. Credit: Gonzalo Torres

18,000 people gathered  in Santiago for the Festival de Ladera Sur. The Giant Magellan Telescope’s mobile planetarium offered attendees a unique glimpse into the wonders of the night sky and highlighted the importance of preserving dark skies.

December

Northwestern University joins the Giant Magellan Telescope international consortium. Credit: Damien Jemison, Giant Magellan Telescope – GMTO Corporation

We welcomed Northwestern University as the 9th American institution to invest in the Giant Magellan Telescope. Northwestern’s investment expands the Giant Magellan Telescope international consortium to 15 research institutions from the United States, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The Universe Awaits™ for 2025!

To see more from the Giant Magellan Telescope, check out The Year in Photos 2023 and The Year in Photos 2022.