Palomar Observatory October, 2006 Aluminizing

[lmbarak]

Just visited the Observatory for the first time today. WOW...I stood there with my mouth hanging open for most of the guided tour, haha. It was absolutely amazing and I can't wait to go back again!

[CT2507]

haha... all this work and they still cant prove that the lunar landing program was faked!!

can they take photos of the landing site and what the astronauts left behind on the moon with this giant telescope?! no, they cant!

[glifencible]

@CT2507 Are you retarded? Yes you are!!!

I hope Buzz Aldrin punches you in the face.

[CT2507]

@glifencible so let him punch me once in the face.. that old goat. i punch him 3 times and spit in his lying face too! :)

get it?!...the we'll se if his dick is big enough to try it again.

cheers friend. :))

[DaUnd3rmindzz]

thanks for the vid

[peterwilson69]

Wow... you do that every year or two? I don't know if I'm jealous, you are crazy, or you've got too much money... probably all three. And the best way to remove bird droppings from a primary would be...?

[rwboa22]

There not crazy, and although they are supported by the Caltech, they giant Palomar mirror has to be recoated every two years in order to allow the maximum light gathering ability for its sensitive camera equipment. Unlike the telescopes used by amateur astronomers, the Palomar telescope is a research instrument and is used on every clear night possible, and because it is located in SoCal (yes, Smog City), enviornmental factors play a key role in the deterioration of the aluminum coating.

[PDRBHarleyRider]

Absolutely excellent clip. Fascinating.

[bllac]

A neat video of an important procedure for astronomers!

It makes one wonder how complicated it must be to clean and realuminize the multi-segmented Gemini and Keck Telescopes.

[Scottishguyusa]

The idea of this kind of thing being done never went through my mind. Fascinating! Thanks for posting and keep up the good work.

[applecounty]

Remarkable - I sure would not want to damage that mirror. You chaps must have nerves of steel. This is what YT should be about. Anymore videos planned?

[jpflathead]

Fascination, and may explain why my own experiments into reanimation have failed.

Why do you take the trouble of washing the mirror AND then dissolving the old aluminum from the mirror? Isn't that the wrong order?

[LynxChan]

This is just guesswork, but it's possible that the reaction of the acid mix they use to dissolve the Aluminum could react with any substance that hadn't been washed off to make something that could damage the mirror itself.

[dflateau]

Hey Scott - long time no talk - what a great video! Keep up the great work. Very cool.

Davin at Exploration Place

[Oldone57]

Thanks for posting this ... I took a tour of the observatory some years ago ... this brought back some

memories ...

[nora080]

Excellent! Thanks for posting this.

[VedranCro]

Damn! Thats one big mirror

[prplnite1]

The Original blank weighed 40 tons and I think 60 tons of grit was used to take off 20 tons of glass before the final polishing.

[palomarskyguy]

Actually the disc was 20 tons and they removed 5.5 tons of glass. It now weighs 14.5 tons.

[BigKwell]

@palomarskyguy Would've weighed more if they cast the mirror blank solid.