Day 19 (Sat March 10)
Bad news, folks. Today I learned the hard way not to leave a cooling system unattended. Our detectors (the parts that make up the camera of the telescope) are meant to be used at -25 degrees Celsius. To get that temperature we have a liquid nitrogen cooling system that supplies the detectors with just enough nitrogen to keep them at the temperature we want. This is a great system if it's properly set! Unfortunately after I programmed the settings I did not double-check that these settings had properly registered, and the cooling system started the cooldown and just kept going...all the way to -190 degrees!!! As soon as I discovered this I stopped the cooling and shut down all power. We put a bag around the detector system and flooded it with dry nitrogen so that as the temperature comes back up water won't condense on the electronics. Now there's nothing to do but give it time to warm up...and tomorrow morning check to see if the detectors still work. :( I have the feeling I won't be sleeping well tonight...everybody wish me luck on this one!!
Thought I raised you to always double-check your cooling system settings!
ReplyDeleteHope it works out.
That's right; I think it was right there between "look both ways before you cross the street" and "don't take candy from strangers!"
ReplyDeleteYikes, -190 degrees. That's almost as cold as Duluth in January!
ReplyDelete