The 6.5-meter Magellan II (Clay telescope) primary mirror was installed in its cell Saturday, January 19. The mirror had been stored in the Magellan auxiliary building since arriving last August. The procedure involved lifting the mirror out of its transport box with a 25-ton vacuum lift fixture. Following a final inspection and cleaning, the crew lowered the mirror into the cell and secured it to its static supports. The work started at 7:30 a.m. and continued until 8 that evening.

On the morning of February 7, the primary mirror was successfully aluminized in the vacuum chamber. The peak reflectance in the visible spectrum is 91%. The mirror and cell were then mounted in the Clay telescope the week of February 11. The team installed the remaining static support bolts, the cooling system components, the hard point actuators, and the mirror support actuators and, as of February 21, was installing the remaining parts for the mirror cooling system. The crew expects to lift the mirror for the first time at the end of February after reviewing the software parameters and all of the hardware installations. At the end of March, it should be ready to install the secondary mirror and proceed with alignment and flexure calibration of the telescope structure. Assuming all goes well, first light will be in April.