2023-06-06 13:22:08
MADRID, 6 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Caltech will disassemble the mirror of the 10.3-meter telescope of the Submillimetre Observatory (CSO) in Maunakea (Hawaii) this summer to rebuild it in Chile. Moving it in one piece is unfeasible.
“Caltech is firmly committed to the total removal of the CSO and restoration of the site,” says it’s a statement Caltech physics professor and CSO director Sunil Golwala. Transporting the disassembled mirror will be less disruptive because major road closures on the island of Hawaii will not be necessary.
The mirror will be disassembled into smaller parts, reversing the process used to assemble the telescope in the 1980s. The staging will take place in the CSO parking area at the summit. The telescope parts will be transported down the mountain in standard shipping containers and shipped to Chile, where the telescope it will continue to be used for astronomical research and instrumentation development at sub-millimeter wavelengths.
Although there is an increased risk of damage to the telescope with this revised plan, it will create less disruption to the local area and community because large transport vehicles and road closures are no longer necessary.
Once the telescope is removed CSO’s buildings and infrastructure will be removed and full restoration of the site will be carried out.
CSO is the first observatory to be removed under the 2010 Decommissioning Plan for the Maunakea observatories. All astronomical instruments were removed from the facility in 2015, except for the telescope.
The CSO went online in 1987 and was used by scientists at Caltech and other institutions, including nearly 200 students and postdoctoral researchers, to open a new submillimeter window into the universe.
#telescope #Hawaii #dismantled #Chile