At the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics in Jilin province, scientists have just produced a silicon carbide mirror blank more than 4-meters in diameter?which is the main element of large telescopes for exploring the outer reaches of the universe.

Researchers in a group photo with the new silicon carbide mirror blank, on April 27. [Photo by Zhang Nan/xinhua]

?What is most significant, though, is that the institute developed the giant mirror blank at a time when most of this advanced equipment is made in either Europe or the United States. It was an epic undertaking that began in the late 1990s when the institute began its research on optical- grade silicon carbide ceramic materials.

Researchers cleaning a mirror blank, in Changchun, on April 27. [Photo by Zhang Nan/xinhua]

A silicon carbide mirror blank differs significantly from those made of other materials because it helps to increase resolution for better visual quality when installed in telescope or satellite.