Re-aluminizing Again

If you've been following the blog, you've seen the results of re-aluminizing before when the Palomar crew re-coated the 60-inch mirror back in August. They just completed re-coating the 72-inch mirror for the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope.

Because of the design of a Schmidt Telescope (also called a Schmidt Camera) it has a mirror that is larger than the glass corrector plate at the front. And because the size of a telescope is determined by the opening that lets in the light, this telescope is called a 48-inch telescope even though it has a larger mirror.

All that aside, I give you another beautiful example of before and after photos of a telescope mirror. The crew does good work, don't they?