Subject: Telescope shutdown for azimuth motor repairs

From: Russet McMillan

Submitted: Sun, 24 Nov 2002 07:43:48 -0700 (MST)

Message number: 631 (previous: 630, next: 632 up: Index)

Mark asked me to make this announcement since Bruce is leaving town
today, we're unsure about Ed's availability, and Mark is having
trouble accessing his email.  Given the recent difficulties with the
Princeton servers, I've also taken the precaution of copying this
message to the institutional schedulers and the scheduled observers
for Sunday through Tuesday nights.  

As Ed explained in his previous announcement, one of the telescope's
two azimuth motors developed a serious problem in the middle of last
week, causing severe tracking inaccuracies.  As a stopgap measure,
we've been running the telescope with only one azimuth motor since
then.  Last night, as was expected to happen sooner or later, that
motor started showing problems as well.  The telescope has been shut
down and can't be moved right now without risking serious damage to
the motor.

The plan is to pull out both azimuth motors and rebuild them.  Most of
the necessary parts should be on hand, but this process will
definitely keep the telescope closed at least past Thanksgiving.
Observers scheduled for the first week or two of December should be
aware that their programs are also in jeopardy.  We will know more
about the length of this shutdown when the engineering staff have had
a chance to look closely at the state of the two motors.

				Russet McMillan.



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