Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Today we found some nicer weather, at least up until about 4pm, then the monsoons hit again. However, it didn't matter too much, since most of today's shooting took place in the Stewart Observatory Mirror Lab, located at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The lab is located partially underneath the football stadium, pretty efficient use of space.
We interviewed the Mirror Lab founder Roger Angel. He explained the technology and history of engineering that has led us to where we are today in the world of large telescope optics. From the small hand-ground glass lenses of the past, to the large 8 meter precision machined mirrors of today. An interesting trivia fact is the reason for 8 meter mirrors being the largest built at the lab...the answer was simple...any larger and you can't move it down the freeway.
After the interview we made our way around the lab and captured footage of the different stages of casting and polishing the mirrors. We may go back in the fall, and again in the spring, to get more stages of manufacturing. An exciting part of the shoot was getting on the roof of the College of Optical Sciences building to take a high angle shot of the stadium. The only thing more uneasy than the height was the 40' lighting rod a few feet away from us and the gear. A quick shot was all we needed!
In the lobby of the College of Optical Sciences we found a great antique telescope exhibit. We have made arrangements to return on Thursday and shoot the exhibit for our production.
Monsoons and Mexican food finished up our day - it's a good match. That does it for now. Tomorrow we head up another mountain to look at more scopes...I'm beginning to notice a pattern.