The Future of Ground-Based Astronomy

Tom Zobrist will recap his experience working at the Stewart Observatory Mirror Laboratory (SOML) helping to build the world's largest astronomical telescopes, including LBT, GMT, and LSST.  He will provide a brief explanation of the fabrication process, starting from 5 kg chunks of glass to producing light-weighted, monolithic telescope mirrors up to 8.4 m diameter.  Results from the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT), currently the world's largest telescope, will be highlighted to show the comparison between ground-based and space-based astronomy.  SOML is currently fabricating the mirrors for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which will each revolutionize ground-based astronomy when they are complete.  Tom will discuss how LSST will allow every amateur astronomer to have access to an 8.4 m research-grade telescope, and about the race between GMT and its competitors, the Universities of California led Thirty Meter Telescope and the European Extremely Large Telescope, for the title of World's Largest Telescope.