The mirror will be installed on the telescope in the summer of 2018.

      The Lytkarin Optical Glass Plant has handed the reconstructed six-meter mirror of the Big Azimuth Telescope over to the Russian Academy of Sciences. The transfer ceremony took place at the factory on Friday.

      The ceremony was attended by the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Sergeev, the Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the scientific director of the Special Astrophysical Observatory, Academician Yuri Balega, the Deputy Minister of Education and Science Grigory Trubnikov and the head of the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations, Mikhail Kotyukov.

      "Russia is returning to the club of nations that can conduct astrophysical research and observations at the highest level ... I think with this mirror we will provide such a level of competitiveness, and then we will see about taking the next step," - Mr. Sergeyev said to journalists.