Segmented mirror

The concept was pioneered by Guido Horn D'Arturo, who built the first working segmented mirror in 1952, after twenty years of research;[2] It was later independently rediscovered and further developed under the leadership of Dr. Jerry Nelson at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California during the 1980s[citation needed], and since then all the necessary technologies have spread worldwide to the point that essentially all future large optical telescopes plan to use segmented mirrors.

There is a technological limit for primary mirrors made of a single rigid piece of glass.

A mirror beyond that size would also sag slightly under its own weight as the telescope was rotated to different positions,[5][6] changing the precision shape of the surface.

Segments are also easier to fabricate, transport, install, and maintain over very large monolithic mirrors.

Another application for segmented mirrors can be found in the augmented reality sector to minimize the size of the optical components.

These include, but are not limited to the following telescopes: The twin Keck Telescopes are the most prominent of the Mauna Kea Observatories at an elevation of 4,145 meters (13,600 ft) near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, United States.

It shares similarities with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and also consists of 91 hexagonal mirror segments, each 1 meter across, resulting in a total hexagonal mirror of 11.1 m by 9.8 m.[8] It is located close to the town of Sutherland in the semi-desert region of the Karoo, South Africa.

The Thirty Meter Telescope is to be built at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii, though construction is on hold.