Dome shutter
This page provides updates on the progress of the recovery efforts following
the dome shutter incident on January 5 2013.
Friday 01 February 01 2013
Observations restarted today. Thanks to everyone involved. The shutter is still
being operated carefully and tests will continue to find the causes of the problem.
Tuesday 29 January 29 2013
The team was able to close the shutter on Sunday. Congratulations to everyone involved. Because of the weather and the still precarious state of the shutter, the exchange to WIRCamis canceled. The plan is now to exchange to MegaCam tomorrow. Plans are also being developed to enable a safe opening of the shutter.
Friday January 25 2013
Power was brought back up yesterday and is holding up. Instruments are being checked
and getting ready for observing. The computer system is partially back online. Right
now, the plan is to try to close the dome shutter on Sunday and do an exchange
to WIRCam
Wednesday January 23 2013
Preparations for the power up continue at the summit and in Waimea. Observations are
still suspended.
Monday January 21 2013
The cleanup and drainage on all the floors was completed today. Power is still out at the summit but the efforts to bring
it back continued today. Several breakers were cleaned and dried. Observations are still halted.
Sunday January 20 2013
There has been a major water leak on the 4th floor caused by a frozen and rupptured water line going to the humidifier room.
Standing water was found at least 1 inch deep on the 4th floor, with considerable leakage to all floors below.
Building power has been significantly disrupted. Work is underway to repair and insulate the water line and to limit power. All instruments have been shutdown. Observations have been halted until further notice.
Friday January 18 2013
The team appears to have identified problems associated with scarping contact on the bottom of the shutter rail near or below
the spring line on the side of the dome opposite to the shutter.
Thursday January 17 2013
After several attempts, the shutter was moved about a foot in the closed direction. This came after a long
day of work at the summit. Although the shutter moved, we still have no good understanding of the mecanism
that got the shutter to get stuck.
Wednesday January 16 2013
Troubleshooting of the problem continues. The engineers plan to use a fiber scope under the skin to
to look at the state of the side rollers. The fiber scope comes equipped with a camera so images
can be saved for later review.
Monday January 14 2013
Observations resumed Sunday. Thanks for everyone involved in this effort. Observations will continue
as long as the weather looks good. Plans for further work this week were developed and a schedule
was build to coordinate troubleshooting.
Saturday January 12 2013
More troubleshooting is being done over the week-end. With good weather coming,
it is possible that the telescope be de-winterized tomorrow for observations
to resume Sunday evening. If observations resume, they will be on a temporary basis and will
be stopped at the sign of inclement weather.
Friday January 11 2013
More troubleshooting was done on the shutter. Two short moves, one open and one close, were
commanded and video were gathered of each of the pinions and motors. This test revealed a possible
cause for the problem. This will be investigated next week.
Wednesday January 8 2013
With bad weather forcasted, the telescope was winterized and MegaCam was shutdown. Observations
are suspended until further notice. Some troubleshooting was done to see if the problem was related
to the shutter brakes. This didn't turn out to be the case.
Saturday January 5 2012
![The CFHT Shutter stuck in the open position](ShutterOpen.png)
The shutter got stuck open at 23:54:44. A routine close due to high humidity brought the
dome shutter to a stop in an almost fully open position. Work on this problem started
immediately and is highest priority. Observations will continue until weather becomes a concern.