Research Groups
Steward's Mirror Laboratory (SOML), located under the east side of Arizona Stadium, has pioneered new techniques of large mirror production, including spin-casting lightweight honeycomb mirrors in a rotating furnace, and stressed-lap polishing. The Mirror Laboratory completed the second mirror for the Large Binocular Telescope in September, 2005. The Mirror Lab is currently working on the 8.4 meter diameter primary/tertiary mirror for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, and has started work on 2 of the 7 off-axis primary mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope.
The Infrared Detector Laboratory built the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) instrument for the Hubble Space Telescope and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS) instrument for the Spitzer Space Telescope. For the James Webb Space Telescope, Steward built the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and helped build the Mid-IR Instrument (MIRI). Both instruments have been delivered to NASA; launch is expected in 2017 or 2018.
Other groups include the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics (CAAO), the Imaging Technology Laboratory (ITL), the Steward Observatory Radio Astronomy Laboratory (SORAL), and the Astrochemistry/Spectroscopy Laboratory.
Read more about this topic: Steward Observatory
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