Faulkes Telescope North has undergone a substantial refurbishment. The primary mirror has been removed using a portable gantry, and block and tackle. This is no mean undertaking as the mirror itself weighs over a ton, at 1240 Kg (2734 lbs). The mirror was then moved to a facility on the Haleakala mountain top where it was re-aluminized. This is the first time the mirror has had more than a wash since its installation in 2003.
We thank all our users (both educational and scientific) for your understanding throughout this process. It has taken slightly longer than anticipated because of a variety of availability clashes, but we have heard today that the recoating has been successful and the mirror has been reinstalled into FTN. We are anticipating that this new aluminium coating will increase the number of photons FTN can capture by 20-30% on early 2008, and by ~60% compared to just prior to realuminizing. This will be of huge benefit to the quality of observations for all users of the telescope.
Congratulations and thanks to the team on Hawaii, consisting of Mark Elphick (FTN observatory manager), John Shobbrook (FTS observatory manager), Mark Crellin and JD Armstrong.
A similar process will be performed on the Faulkes Telescope South primary mirror early in 2010.
