GMT4 8.4m Casting

GMT4 8.4m Mirror Casting Web Index

Latest Oven Temperature Plots
(These plots are what the oven pilot watches. They will continue into early December 2015.)
Latest Flash Video Images
(The glass is cool enough that it has stopped moving. Images are no longer updating.)
Latest Flash Video Images as a Slideshow
(We have 7 digital video cameras that look at the glass inside the furnace.
They take flash images in blue light for contrast every 6 minutes or so.)
Before & After Flash Video Images
Timelapse Movie of Glass Melting (310 MB - no longer updating)
small format version of the above movie (10 MB)
Movie of the Spinning Furnace from outside (28 MB)

Approximate schedule of glass melting:

Thursday, Sept 17, 2015
  22:00 MST  Furnace starts turning  (750 C)
  23:00 MST  Furnace rotating at 4.8 RPM (762 C)
Friday, Sept 18, 2015
  02:00 MST  Noticeable glass softening (810 C)
  04:30 MST  Glass blocks slumping (850 C)
  07:00 MST  Glass melting        (900 C)
  12:30 MST  Smoothing of glass surface (980 C)
  17:00 MST  Glass clear          (1070 C)
  20:40 MST  Maximum Temeperature (1165 C)
Saturday, Sept 19, 2015
  01:08 MST  Start cooling        (1165 C)

Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab public web page
Giant Magellan Telescope public web page
Steward Observatory public web page
Links to News Coverage for the GMT4 casting
- ESPN "Mirrors, mirrors on the wall of Arizona Stadium" 4-Sep-2015
- Texas A&M press release: "Giant Magellan Telescope to Cast Milestone Fourth Mirror" 18-Sep-2015
- UANews: "Mirror Lab renamed in honor of Richard F. Caris" 18-Sep-2015
- TucsonNewsNow: "UA's mirror lab receives $20 million donation" 18-Sep-2015
- Gizmodo.com: "The Giant Magellan Telescope's fourth mirror melting is mesmerizing" 16-Oct-2015