(BIVN) – A leak of ethylene glycol recently occurred at an observatory on Maunakea, officials revealed this week.

The leak at the Subaru telescope follows a January coolant leak at the University of Hawaiʻi 88 inch observatory, operated by the UH Institute for Astronomy.

The news of the Subaru leak was revealed last week during a meeting of the new Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority.

From Greg Chun, the Executive Director of the University of Hawai’i-Hilo Center For Maunakea Stewardship:

I notified uh chair Komeiji the other day. We were notified by Subaru that they discovered – on April 6 – a leak of again ethylene glycol within their facility. The leak occurred from a small piece of equipment or a piece of equipment that’s used to pressurize the mirrors when they’re handling and moving the mirrors. This particular piece of equipment had not been operational, or turned on, since July of last year.

The cause appears to be a faulty O-ring in the filter. It’s estimated, since the time that it was last operated, that about 6 liters of fluid were released in the building over an 8 month period.

There is no indication that any of the spilled fluid reached the environment or the soil. It is all contained within the facility.

In an abundance of caution, even though the material did not reach the the external environment, they did – on our advice – notify Department of Health and they are preparing their written report to the Department of Health as required by Department of Health rules.

So, we’re working closely with them and monitoring that as well.