Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2023

  • Work on this object began.

2025

Photograph, Workers placing glass for casting the mirror of the Giant Magellan Telescope

This is a Photograph. It was photographed by Christopher Payne and subject: Richard Caris Mirror Lab.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Christopher Payne as part of Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne.

It is dated 2023. Its medium is digital pigment print. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


Nineteen tons of highly purified glass are melted in a rotating furnace over a honeycomb-shaped mold to give the 27.5-foot-diameter mirror a stiff, lightweight structure. Once cast, the mirror will cool for three months before undergoing an extensive grinding and polishing process that could take a year or more.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 76.2 × 61 cm (30 × 24 in.) H x W (framed dimensions): 81.3 × 66 cm (32 × 26 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-5.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318813310/ |title=Photograph, Workers placing glass for casting the mirror of the Giant Magellan Telescope |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=4 December 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>