Giant Magellan Telescope Celebration in Washington
On October 16, 2012, Dr. Eva J. Pell, Under Secretary for Science at the Smithsonian Institution and General John R. Dailey, USMC (Ret.), Director of the National Air and Space Museum, hosted an evening celebration in Washington, D.C. in honor of the Giant Magellan Telescope. The University of Texas at Austin is a founding partner in the GMT, which will become operational in the next decade under dark southern-hemisphere skies in Chile. The GMT will lead exploration of planets around nearby stars, investigation into dark matter and dark energy, and explore the formation of stars, galaxies and black holes in the early universe. When built it will be the largest and most sophisticated instrument of its kind in the world.
Randy Henry with meteorites from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's collection
Held at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, members from the Giant Magellan Telescope partner institutions were in attendance to discuss the project, celebrate recent technological milestones and engage with the evening’s speaker, 2011 Nobel Laureate in Physics Dr. Adam Riess. Joining Dr. David Lambert, director of the McDonald Observatory, BOV Chair Randy Henry and his wife Janis, GMT supporter and Orion Circle member Joe Orr, and McDonald GMT development officer Carolyn Porter were attendees from partner institutions including Australian Ambassador to the United States Kim Beazley; Director of the Carnegie Institution for Science Dr. Dick Meserve; Dr. Ho Il Kim, Director of the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute; Dr. Charles Alcock, Director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Dr. Wendy Freedman, Chair, GMTO Board of Directors and Dean of Science at Texas A&M University Dr. Joe Newton.
During the evening, Dr. Riess delivered a presentation explaining his research on dark matter and dark energy and discussed the positive impact the GMT will have on research in these areas. Dr. Riess stressed the importance of the GMT’s optical and spectroscopic capabilities during the presentation, explaining that the GMT will allow scientists, for the first time, to attempt a working understanding of both dark matter and dark energy. Dr. Lambert summarized the intent of the evening by saying, “At dinner in the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum with tables dwarfed by the full-size copy of the Hubble Space Telescope, dreams of a night’s observing with the GMT seemed so much closer to reality”.
Left to right: Joe Orr, McDonald Observatory supporter; Rick Sherman, Carnegie Institutions for Science; Charmeen Wing, GMTO; Sid Leach, Mount Lemmon Sky Center; Jennifer Raymond, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; Jennifer McMillan, Smithsonian Institutions; Linda Welzenbach, Meteorite Collection Manager, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History; Mike Long, Carnegie Institutions for Science; and Janis and Randy Henry, Board of Visitors
Earlier in the day, Randy and Janis Henry, Joe Orr and Carolyn Porter joined friends and supporters from the Carnegie Institute for Science and the Smithsonian Institution for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Natural History Museum’s meteorite collection. This collection is home to the oldest specimens in the 126-million item Natural History Museum. Linda Welzenbach, Meteorite Collection Manager, led the tour, and participants were encouraged to hold and examine meteorites of all varieties. Some, like a sample of the Allende meteorite, contain material dating back 4.55 billion years. Participants examined first-hand the famous calcium-aluminum inclusions in the Allende sample, handled both lunar and Martian samples, and gained an appreciation for the difficulty in obtaining and conserving meteorite samples around the world.
Joe Orr remarked, “The day I spent in Washington D.C to attend the GMT dinner was full of one-of-a-kind experiences. After lunch, a small group of us had the rare opportunity for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's meteorite laboratory. Not only did we get to see extremely rare and beautiful meteorites, we got to hold pieces of Mars, the Moon, and Vesta in our hands! That evening, I attended the GMT dinner at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The tables were set up on the first floor of the museum, so we had full-scale models of the Hubble Space Telescope, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz towering over us. Representatives of the partners of the GMT were in attendance, so I had the pleasure of talking during dinner to the head of the Australian National Observatory.”
A recent GMT milestone celebrated at the event was the completion of the primary mirror. The first 8.4-meter mirror is the most challenging large astronomical mirror ever completed by optical scientists and engineers at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Laboratory. By the standards used by optical scientists, its degree of difficulty is 10 times that of any previous large telescope mirror. The second mirror was cast in January, and the third will be cast in August 2013.
The events were a component of the larger Giant Magellan Telescope Organization Board of Directors leadership retreat and Board of Directors meeting held October 13 – 17, 2012. Along with Dr. Lambert, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences Linda Hicke represented UT Austin at the retreat. If you are interested in learning more about the GMT and our role as a founding partner, please visit texas.gmto.org. To get involved with BOV participation in the August 2013 Mirror Firing activities in Tucson, Arizona please contact Carolyn Porter at cporter@astro.as.utexas.edu or 512-471-1305.
[Carolyn Porter]
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