August 27th

Meghan, Chan, and I got together on the last day of work on Viper for the summer and took apart the box which held the main mirror. This important piece of the telescope will be moved by Facilities nearby the telescope frame and we will rent a crane to place it inside the frame so we can hopefully have a working instrument by winter.  The trusses which are blue in the photos were also sent to a body shop to be sandblasted and repainted Siena green and gold.

August 9th

I cleaned and polished several door-like parts of the telescope today which had been marked by the original aluminum jelly.  We also were able to align and do the final bolting of the main telescope frame.  We are getting quotes from various body shops as to cost of sandblasting and repainting the originally blue trusses and other parts.

August 7th

Today I worked on cleaning the parts which came out of the box and power washed all the parts. We will be attempting to move the main mirror at some point this week.

August 6th

We opened up the box of telescope parts and moved them over by the telescope. There was a secondary mirror that ended up being put inside to prevent damage.  I also opened up the side of the box in preparation for removing the main mirror. We are discussing ways of moving the main mirror into it's place inside the telescope. I completed most of the bolting together of the two sides of the telescope frame.

August 1st

Today we received the remaining bolts and inserts for the telescope frame, which I installed in the places I was able to without help.  We had the box with the mirror brought up nearby the telescope and I removed the top and covered it with a tarp.  I marked out and cut the aluminum panels which needed replacing. We also had someone from a body shop come up to look at and price out a sandblasting and painting job for the previously blue parts of the telescope. We intend to have them painted Siena Green and Gold.

July 30th

Today we unloaded the parts to the telescope which Joe and Meghan had picked up from Johns Hopkins.  We put the large parts under a canopy behind Facilities and the more precision equipment will be kept inside.  I also researched information for a temporary greenhouse or other protective shelter for the telescope come winter.

July 26th

Today was Alyssa's last day for the summer, so we will be missing her! We got someone from Facilities to help us remove the stubborn rusted bolts which we were unable to remove, and re-tap some of the bolt holes where we removed rusted bolts.  I also ordered inserts for some of the bolts which will be used for adjustment, which will allow for easy use.  I also got a quote from a supplier for brackets to attach the aluminum panels to the body of the telescope.  Joe will be going down with some other students tomorrow to get the remaining parts from Johns Hopkins.