Status of GS Telescope Following Chilean Earthquake

 

On September 16^th, 2015, La Serena was hit by a 8.3 earthquake (reported by USGS) at 19:54 local time, with the epicenter about 150km from La Serena. Fortunately, the Gemini staff at the summit and in La Serena are all fine. A first check of the telescope and installations were initiated after the quake and nothing obvious was noted, but it was decided to cancel observations that night. After a thorough inspection of the telescope, it was found that the telescope sustained minor damages, and would be closed until further notice.

Our thoughts go out to the people that lost their lives and homes due to the quake and the following tsunami that strongly impacted the coastal areas.

Check back periodically for updates on the Gemini South telescope.

Sept 25

We are pleased to announce that good progress has been made in recovering the Gemini South telescope, and we will begin on-sky testing Saturday, September 26th. The on-sky tests will confirm whether all is ok, or whether some further adjustments are needed before we resume science observations.

Sept 23

We have good news from today’s work on Cerro Pachón. The elevation axis is now operational, which means that it was possible to tilt the telescope to the horizon and fully inspect the secondary mirror. The more complete visual inspection showed no problems, so the engineering team proceeded with the initialization and test sequence. They moved M2 in all directions and repeated the initialization several times, all with success.

GMOS, FLAMINGOS-2, and GSAOI are fully cleared for operation. GPI has been in the summit lab, and the active vibration control now works, reducing vibrations by a factor of 10.

Some key milestones that remain are to complete the alignment of the azimuth bearing, and to test full ranges of motion of the telescope and M2. Getting the encoders back online will be another big task before resuming observing, but regular procedures with all necessary equipment on-hand.

Sept 22

We made good progress today on the Gemini South telescope recovery, as we work through the many systems methodically.

Key work today was progress on aligning the azimuth bearing. This should be completed tomorrow. A basic inspection of the secondary mirror from the cherry picker (telescope at zenith) did not show any obvious problems. Following work tomorrow, we expect to be able to move in elevation and do a more complete investigation of the secondary. In parallel, instruments are being checked out, finding no problems so far. The primary mirror control system has also checked out fine.

Sept 21

The hydraulic bearing system is back on, and the telescope is again centered at the nominal azimuth position. The oil system is showing low pressure, which will be investigated further tomorrow. The motion of the platform reported earlier moved two azimuth encoder heads, and the elevation encoder head needs adjustment. Some other components related to the cable wraps need replacement; we have spares on site that have been and/or will be prepared for use.

All dome mechanisms have checked out fine.

Additional key tasks for tomorrow will be to recover the elevation axis and to inspect the secondary mirror.