This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Keeping things simple: Tuukka Taponen’s Hometown Tour Taponen says ART are not ‘far’ from challenging for wins after ‘better’ Sakhir weekend Round 2 Post Sprint Race Press Conference a subsidiary of the SFIM Group and located in Saint Pierre du Perray (France) a comprehensive contract for the polishing of four 8.2-metre diameter mirrors for the unit telescopes of the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) project These mirrors are the largest ever manufactured and polished This contract comprises not only the polishing and high-precision optical testing of each giant mirror but also the safe condition of transportation of the blanks which were manufactured by Schott Glaswerke in Mainz (Germany) high-tech workshop which would allow to polish and test the mirrors each of which has a surface area of more than 50 square metres The REOSC polishing facility for giant mirrors was built in Saint Pierre du Perray It is equipped with two machines: one for grinding and the other for polishing the mirrors and both with 150-actuator systems that support the thin and flexible mirrors State-of-the-art interferometers probe the accuracy of the mirror surface as the polishing proceeds; they are installed at the top level of the facility in a 30-metre high tower at the centre of the mirror's radius of curvature The success of the work at REOSC is now evident by the fact that careful measurements of the first mirror earlier this month have shown that the final optical surface is correct to within 0.00005 millimetres this corresponds to an accuracy of only 1 millimetre deviation over a surface with a diameter of 165 kilometres (equivalent to the entire Paris area) After having been carefully placed in a special transport box designed by REOSC weighing 23.5 tons and with a replacement value of about 20 million DEM was transported from Mainz to Saint Pierre du Perray in July 1993 The shaping and polishing phases lasted two years and were completed in October 1995 dedicated to optical and mechanical verifications by ESO and REOSC the mirror's various characteristics have now been found to be in accordance with the contract specifications the first mirror was re-installed in its transport container on November 13 It will thereafter be formally handed over to ESO during a ceremony at REOSC on Tuesday The mirror will be stored at the REOSC facility until its future departure to ESO's VLT Observatory on Cerro Paranal a 2650 m high summit in the Andean Cordillera in northern Chile Here it will be installed in the first VLT unit telescope soon after the assembly of the mechanical parts has been completed as well as the grinding of the third mirror which was transported from Mainz to Saint Pierre du Perray at the beginning of October 1995 The transport of the fourth blank will take place in March 1996 of a workshop of more than 6000 square metres and mostly dedicated to space and astronomy the SFIM group will have invested more than 50 million French Francs at the Saint Pierre du Perray site alone The group is also involved in the contract related to the actuator support system; this is a clear indication of its determination to maintain its position within this scientific-technological market REOSC will also polish the two 8.2-metre diameter mirrors of the Gemini programme of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) in the United States following an international call for tenders Connect with ESO on social media We use cookies that are essential for accessing our websites and using our services measure and improve our websites’ performance to enable content sharing via social media and to display media content hosted on third-party platforms The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) is the pre-eminent intergovernmental science and technology organisation in astronomy It carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities for astronomy This Cookies Policy is intended to provide clarity by outlining the cookies used on the ESO public websites and the ways you can contact us for additional details Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit such as remembering login credentials and preferences and enhance your browsing experience Essential cookies (always active): These cookies are strictly necessary for the proper functioning of our website such as logging in or accessing secure areas may not be available; because they are essential for the website’s operation Functional Cookies: These cookies enhance your browsing experience by enabling additional features and personalization such as remembering your preferences and settings While not strictly necessary for the website to function they improve usability and convenience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent Analytics cookies: These cookies collect information about how visitors interact with our website such as which pages are visited most often and how users navigate the site This data helps us improve website performance and enhance the user experience; these cookies are only placed if you provide your consent an open source software which enables the statistical analysis of website visits Matomo uses cookies (text files) which are saved on your computer and which allow us to analyze how you use our website The website user information generated by the cookies will only be saved on the servers of our IT Department We use this information to analyze www.eso.org visits and to prepare reports on website activities These data will not be disclosed to third parties Matomo will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage Additional Third-party cookies on ESO websites: some of our pages display content from external providers Such third-party services are outside of ESO control and may Cookies can also be classified based on the following elements Cookie settings: You can modify your cookie choices for the ESO webpages at any time by clicking on the link Cookie settings at the bottom of any page Please be aware that if you delete or decline cookies certain functionalities of our website may be not be available and your browsing experience may be affected You can set most browsers to prevent any cookies being placed on your device but you may then have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site/page And some services and functionalities may not work properly at all (e.g The ESO Cookies Policy may be subject to future updates As ESO public webpages are managed by our Department of Communication your questions will be dealt with the support of the said Department Round 3 Post-Feature Race Press Conference Martins predicting tight battle for Pole in Jeddah after fast start to Friday PRACTICE: Martins leads the pack in Jeddah ahead of Qualifying Home F2 NewsART GP inaugurated its new factoryF2ART GP inaugurated its new factoryThe French team © ART GP / The French team inaugurated its new premises in the presence of distinguished guests.The ART GP team undoubtedly belongs to the landscape of French motor racing Founded in 1996 by Frédéric Vasseur under the name ASM F3 the team won its first title in the French F3 championship as early as 1998 Vasseur partnered with Nicolas Todt and renamed the team ART GP in 2004 ART would go on to win numerous drivers' and teams' titles Since 2014 and the departure of Frédéric Vasseur in Formula 1 the team has been led by Sébastien Philippe they won both championships in Formula 2 with Théo Pourchaire and Victor Martins Based since its creation in Villeneuve-la-Guyard the team has just moved to the Parisian region ART took advantage of this new year's start to organize an inauguration evening for its new premises in the presence of its founder You already have an account? Logged me in A verification email will be sent before to publish your comment. Never miss any breaking news thanks to the new Motors Inside newsletter. Receive important information instantly. By signing in, you accept the placement of a cookie in your browser to stay logged. It will not be use to track you or for advertisement purposes. The first six hexagonal segments for the main mirror of the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) have been successfully cast by Schott (Mainz These segments will form parts of the ELT's 39 m main mirror which will have 798 segments in total when completed The ELT will be the largest optical telescope in the world when it sees first light in 2024 RELATED ARTICLE: Schott and Safran Reosc awarded 39 m mirror contract for ESO's Extremely Large Telescope As with the telescope's secondary mirror blank the ELT main mirror segments are made from the low-expansion ceramic material from Schott ESO has awarded this German company with contracts to manufacture the blanks of the first four ELT mirrors (known as M1 to M4 The first segment castings are important as they allow the engineers at Schott to validate and optimize the manufacturing process and the associated tools and procedures The casting of the first six segments is a major milestone but the road ahead is long--in total more than 900 segments will need to be cast and polished (798 for the main mirror itself the production rate will be about one segment per day After casting, the mirror segment blanks will go through a slow cooling and heat treatment sequence and will then be ground to the right shape and polished to a precision of 15 nm across the entire optical surface. The shaping and polishing will be performed by Safran Reosc (Saint Pierre du Perray which will also be responsible for additional testing SOURCE: ESO; http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1801/ Gail has more than 30 years of engineering and editorial experience in the photonics and optical communications industry Before joining the staff at Laser Focus World in 2004 she held many product management and product marketing roles in the fiber-optics industry Gail published articles in WDM Solutions and Sensors magazine and traveled internationally to conduct product and sales training from San Diego State University in San Diego Amusement parks are always a great way to spend some quality time with family and friends Rte de la Prte Dauphine à la Prte des Sablons Nestled in the heart of the Rougeau forest enjoy the park’s 34 attractions for young and old Don’t hesitate to try out the sublime carousels One of Paris’s friendliest theme parks Nikito is the must-see indoor park for the whole family Come and work out like never before in a 3,300m2 space You’ll find trampolines for all ages a “ninja warrior” area to challenge the craziest obstacles the Optical Department of the SAGEM Group finished the polishing of the fourth 8.2-m main mirror for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory The mirror was today delivered to ESO at a ceremony at the REOSC factory in Saint Pierre du Perray The precision of the form of the mirror that was achieved during the polishing process is 8.5 nanometer (1 nanometer = 1 millionth of a millimetre) over the optical surface This exceptional value corresponds to an optical resolution (theoretical image sharpness) of 0.03 arcseconds in the visible spectrum This corresponds to distinguishing two objects separated by only 15 cm at a distance of 1000 km and will allow to detect astronomical objects that are 10,000 million times fainter than what can be perceived with the unaided eye.This impressive measure of quality achieved by the REOSC teams during much painstaking work implies that this VLT mirror is the most accurate in the world all four 8.2-m VLT main mirrors polished by REOSC are well within the very strict specifications set by ESO but this is the best of them all.The celebration today is the successful highlight of a contract initiated more than ten years ago during which REOSC has perfected new polishing and control techniques - innovations improved and developed in a unique workshop dedicated to these giant mirrors These methods and means are directly applicable to the new generations of segmented mirrors that are now being developed for astronomy and space observations at the foremost front of optical technology REOSC, the Optical Department of the SAGEM Group , is specialised in the study and realisation of high-precision optics for astronomy, space, defence, science and industry. For earlier information about the work on the VLT mirrors, cf. eso9515 The SAGEM Group is a French high-technology group. It employs about 15,500 people - more information is available at URL: www.sagem.com Information about the ESO and the VLT project is available via the ESO website: www.eso.org The polishing at REOSC of the main mirrors for the four VLT Unit Telescopes has been a major industrial feat [1] A Press Release on the REOSC event and the delivery of the fourth VLT main mirror to ESO is also published by SAGEM (in French and English) there has been much action in many different areas at the ESO Paranal Observatory Work has continued on the assembly of various components of the telescope structures and on the surface of the summit platform as well as in connection with the maintenance and storage facilities near the base camp at the foot of the mountain The arrival of the M1 cell and a dummy mirror of concrete in Antofagasta is now foreseen at the end of October From here they will be transported to Paranal without delay Press Photos of this transport will be made available from ESO as soon as possible thereafter The transport of the first 8.2-metre VLT mirror of Zerodur will start some days later from the REOSC factory in St with expected time of arrival at Paranal around New Year The present selection of four photos shows some aspects of the recent work at Paranal Please note that since these images were electronically recorded and were primarily obtained to document the VLT construction activities they may not be of sufficient quality for all reproduction purposes Another historic event in ESO's Very Large Telescope Project has just occurred The blanks for the four 8.2-metre VLT mirrors of Zerodur were produced by the Schott Glaswerke (Mainz Germany) and have been polished at the REOSC factory (St The first of the four mirrors left France in early November 1997 en route to Paranal The transport was organized by the Gondrand company Following an uneventful transatlantic journey onboard M/S Tarpon Santiago it arrived safely in the port of Antofagasta in the evening of Saturday The 8.2-m mirror in its special Tranport Container was unloaded from the ship and made a gentle touch-down on Chilean soil at about 21:30h A heavy-load trailer was positioned underneath and everything was prepared for the road transport to the Paranal Observatory The convoy left the dock at about 09:00h on Sunday morning (December 7) accompanied by a substantial escort of local police press and film crews as well as many interested onlookers It navigated the narrow passages in Antofagasta during the next hours and by 15:00h it was well out of town and soon reached the end of the first stretch of uphill tarmac road to join the main Pan American highway It arrived at the turn-off of the unpaved Old Panamerica Road in the evening and spent the night there After one more day and night in the lonely Atacama desert the first of the large VLT mirrors arrived at the foot of the Paranal mountain ahead of schedule on December 9 Everything went according to plan and the mirror in its shipping container is now safely stored away provisional inspection was carried out showing no apparent damage This strengthens the belief that the mirror arrived in perfect state the cover of the Transport Container will be lifted in order to have an full and unobstructed view of the mirror surface and to perform a very detailed inspection of the mirror in its entirety More information is available at the ESO website about the VLT project Please note that since these images were electronically recorded and were primarily obtained to document the VLT project activities Professional-quality, large-scale photographic images - obtained by the ESO EPR team and related to the arrival of the first VLT giant mirror at Paranal - are also available. Video sequences will become available at a later moment. All subscribers to the ESO-NEWS Mailing List will be duly notified the first Very Large Telescope mirror cell (VLT M1 cell) and a concrete 8.2-m dummy mirror were unloaded in the Port of Antofagasta on October 31 they were transported by special trucks to the Paranal Observatory The M1 cell - on which the first 8.2 m mirror will later be placed - measures 9 x 10 metres and stands 3.5 m tall; it weighs about 20 tonnes oversize transport from Antofagasta to Paranal had to move slowly and carefully The concrete dummy mirror with a diameter of 8.2 metres weighs the same as the real Zerodur mirrors (23 tonnes) and was stored in a special box It took 3 days for the convoy to cover the 130 kilometres along the desert road Both the mirror and the cell arrived well at Paranal and a thorough check showed that they had suffered no damage during the transport from Europe. Accordingly, green light was given right away to send the first, polished 8.2-metre VLT mirror of Zerodur from the REOSC factory in St securely fastened in a box of the same design as the one in which the dummy mirror was moved departed by river barge on the Seine a few days later It was loaded upon an ocean-going vessel in the Port of Le Havre on November 12 The expected arrival time in the Port of Antofagasta is mid-December After unloading of the M1 cell and the concrete dummy mirror in front of the Mirror Maintenance Building (MMB) at the base camp of the Paranal Observatory a series of comprehensive operational tests was initiated They will fine-tune the delicate procedures and provide the necessary experience to the involved staff so that they can later handle the large and fragile Zerodur mirrors safely The dummy mirror allows very realistic tests of these operations The concrete mirror was first moved into the MMB and placed under the socalled "Mirror-Handling Tool" which has been specially designed to lift and handle the very thin (17 cm) mirror without any risk of breakage The mirror was then lifted from its transport box the M1 cell will be moved into position below the mirror and the mirror will be lowered down on the computer controlled (active) supports which are incorporated in the M1 cell the M1 cell and the concrete mirror will be brought up the mountain road to the first of the four 8.2-m telescopes (Unit Telescope no or UT1) and attached at the bottom of the `telescope tube' this will serve to adjust the mechanical parts and to balance the telescope without risk to the real mirror Before First Light will be achieved next year the cell will be taken down to the MMB for exchange of the dummy mirror with the real one and then brought back up again to the telescope The mechanical integration has now reached the point where the entire structure of the UT1 can be moved around its vertical axis and the erection of the mechanical structure of UT2 continues preparations are being made to attach the heavy centerpiece The following series of press photos was taken during the past 2 weeks and document the above story in some detail More information is available at the ESO website about the VLT project. Located 30 km from Paris in Saint-Pierre-du-Perray, between Corbeil-Essonnes and Savigny-le-Temple, the Babyland-Amiland amusement park , now called Winnoland has come a long way since its creation in 1985 Sold a few years after its creation to a Belgian group that wanted to turn it into a Walibi in the Paris region the park was finally bought by fairground owner Xavier Lapère who wanted to own it when he first sold it Every year, attendance at the park increases. Today, the park boasts some 30 attractions for young and old Babyland was originally conceived as a park for 0-12 year olds the park is evolving to delight older children we've got another big new feature in store: the arrival of the Wild West Coaster Get ready for a unique and thrilling experience a multitude of attractions ranging from small carousels to a breathtaking coaster The Winnoland team pulls out all the stops to ensure that every member of the family has a memorable time Don't miss the Circus TiTi family and their dazzling shows at the foot of the Ferris wheel. Enjoy a ride on the Ferris wheel and cool off in the water games. The Caterpillar rubs shoulders with inflatables jump on the trampolines and ride a mechanical horse Winnoland's attractive rates make it an affordable alternative to better-known theme parks such as Disneyland Paris or Parc Astérix Count on 19.50 euros for an adult and 15.50 euros for a child between 90 and 105 cm tall Senior citizens and people with reduced mobility benefit from reduced rates and parking is free (not insignificant these days) Winnoland is open from April 5 to November 2 with all attractions and catering outlets accessible It opens every day during school vacations and will continue at weekends and on some Wednesdays after August for a nice park where you can have fun without having to queue too much Refer your establishment, click here Promote your event, click here Christmas markets are a bit like a box of chocolates: you never know which delicacy you're going to bite into! In Île-de-France, and particularly in Yvelines these havens of happiness are ready to enchant your winter evenings Expect an avalanche of festivities and delicacies that will warm even the coldest of hearts Looking forgift ideas? Among the wooden chalets and glittering stalls, you'll find handcrafted creations, costume jewelry, unique wooden objects and mouth-watering delicacies. Who can resist the call of spiced mulled wine or roasted chestnuts It's the perfect combo for a warm moment with friends or family There's plenty of entertainment too: magical rides, skating rinks and encounters with good old Santa Claus provide plenty of laughs chat and let yourself be carried away by the festive spirit.Immersed in this magical atmosphere Ready to succumb to the magic of the Yvelines Christmas markets This selection is regularly updated with new announcements and discoveries