Professor Bob Kirshner celebrates the successful casting of the third of seven mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope which the Dean of FAS, Michael Smith, has just approved as a major funding-raising focus for the University.   The casts are made under the University of Arizona football stadium overseen by the Steward Observatory there. 

Each casting of the more than 80 foot mirrors takes months of preparation followed by even longer to polish the surface to an accuracy of 1/1000 of a human hair.   Kirshner is photographed next to an ice sculpture showing the honeycomb construction used in casting mirrors of this size.  For more information see this Press Release.