An accident that spilled more than 100 litres of coolant has shut down the 8-metre Subaru telescope for at least two weeks.

The telescope, Japan’s largest, is perched at the top of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea mountain, and its prime focus camera, which sits high above the main mirror, moves to track stars as the Earth rotates. But on 2 July, something malfunctioned with the system that is supposed to move a set of wrapping cables in parallel with the camera. The cables, which contain both coolant and electrical wires, stretched and eventually tore open, spilling more than 100 litres of orange coolant (pictured) on the main mirror and two of the telescope’s eight instruments, says Subaru interim director Hideki Takami. “For some reason the wrapping system didn’t move, while the camera kept moving,” Takami tells Nature.

Takami says the liquid, which is similar to automobile anti-freeze, is non-corrosive, and did not damage the mirror. He says the aluminum coating on the main mirror also appears to be okay. He is more worried about the two instruments; technicians are cleaning lenses and gingerly testing the soaked electronics.

The telescope will be out of commission for at least two weeks, Takami says, and astronomers who were supposed to get observing time in this period will be rescheduled as much as possible.