University of Arizona's Steward Observatory Richard F. Caris Mirror Laboratory — Local services in Tucson

Out of this world! Offered daily, the 90-minute tour of the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab begins at Steward Observatory, where two university hosts meet the group (12 people in ours) and begin with a quick introductory talk and video session, to describe what you’ll see in the lab. Our outstanding guides, Adrian and Sage, were friendly, informative, and engaged, encouraging questions and offering interesting insights about the telescope-mirror production process as well as the U of A’s astronomy program as a whole. Next, it’s a short walk to the lab, housed within the infrastructure of the football stadium. From various catwalk vantages, visitors can photograph the rotating furnace apparatus used to melt the Ohara E-6 borosilicate glass and also view the extensive grinding, cleaning, and polishing processes. The lab is currently in charge of fabricating the seven 8.4-meter spin-cast mirrors that will form the heart of the Giant Magellan Telescope, which will have capabilities up to 200x more powerful than today’s best land-based telescopes and is expected to take images 10x sharper than Hubble. It’s amazing to hear about the innovation involved in this project that spans decades, and it’s even more dazzling and inspiring to see it in person — a stellar opportunity that will leave you...

This is a fascinating place to visit. I was a bit dismayed to learn that it would entail a 45 minute lecture, but the lecture was necessary to give you the background information about what you are looking at, as well as some history, and the future plans for the mirrors created here. The day we went, it was pretty quiet. The mirror oven was spinning very slowly, and there was no active polishing going on. Maybe other days/tours get to see more work in progress. Regardless, this was a very interesting way to spend a couple of hours and learn about the way the giant...

The most impressive micro manufacturing site that make such large items. Not a single square foot is wasted in this facility for the making of massive mirrors. The guides on this tour was strong in his knowledge and cover all the steps of manufacturing of this mirrors very well. Tour is 90 minutes and you have to climb stairs, but well worth the effort. Best part you get to see on of the mirrors being made. It take the average of 5 years to make each mirror. Another jem of Tucson that all...