I wanted this topic to have its own thread.

I just received a letter from the American Astronomical Society about the fires that have swept Canberra in Australia, devastating the Mt. Stromlo observatory. This was one of the world's premier astronomical research centers, and is now almost totally destroyed.

The Australian National University has put up a webpage with current information about the observatory and what can be done to help.

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Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
http://www.badastronomy.com
badastro@badastronomy.com

There was a brief scene of an observatory dome, burnt and collapsed, on an ABC News segment the other night, but no specific mention of it. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img] [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]

God's punishment ... kuz astronomers went too far in depicting the secrets of his creation ... euh !! may be !!!

One of the astronomers who had to evacuate reported that the fire front approached the observatory at about 100 km/hour (62 miles/hour), leaving only about 5 minutes to get out. It is quite fortunate that there were no fatalities.

All of the telescopes were destroyed. The aluminum domes collapsed; the steel 74-inch dome remaind standing, but the building interior was gutted and the mirror "damaged beyond repair". The 50-inch mirror "is a pile of goo on the floor". The road to the laser ranging facility is blocked, but it did not likely survive.

Damge was indeed extreme, but the university has already commited to rebuild at least partially on the same site. The ANU fire webpage linked by BA does have instructions and advice for those wishing to contribute to the rebuilding effort.

The two pictures on their web page are among the most depressing I’ve ever seen…

They were insured, right?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: VanBurenVandal on 2003-01-21 15:20 ]</font>

CABLE!!!!

Please show some respect; this is not a good time for sarcastic derogatory cutting remarks like that. This is a time for mourning and for healing and hopes of restoration.

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"As I lay beneath the Southern Cross, the stars tell more than I could" . . . David Meece

Real shame, the loss of life and these observatories. Hope this will be a heads-up to clear back some of the undergrowth around observatories/homes, if that would help.

Here's a few related links....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2676247.stm

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/det...ews&class_id=7

http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/det...ews&class_id=7

Sadly, the just completed "Near Infra-red Integral Field Spectrograph" valued at 4 million dollars, placed at Mount Stromlo
for testing, and due for shipment to the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, was totally lost.

However....

"Though our losses are currently overwhelming, we have not lost our best and most precious asset, the lives of our staff and students. They are our best chance of rebuilding, and rebuild we will. Mt Stromlo has seen fire before and we have always carried on." -- Professor Penny Sackett, Director of the School.

I'm not sure of the details, but I understand that the Australian Government is its own insurer. As a result, given that the ANU is a government-owned facility, the Government carries the liability.

Guy Webster (818) 354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. January 22, 2002

News Release: 2003-008

Workers at Australian Site Save Space Antennas From Wildfire

Australian antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network used for communicating with spacecraft are back in normal operation after a close call with wildfires that destroyed hundreds of homes and took four lives in the Canberra area.

Brush fires surrounded the network's Canberra complex on Saturday. Workers used hoses to dowse spot fires on the site Saturday and were still extinguishing flare-ups Monday.

"A group of staff performed magnificently, successfully ensuring that no fires took hold at the site," said Peter Churchill, director of the Canberra antenna complex. "They also assisted the local fire service in their efforts to protect homes and farm infrastructure in the Tidbinbilla Valley."

The Canberra dish antennas were inactive for about three and one-half hours Saturday so workers could concentrate on the fire. During that period, the complex had been scheduled to be in communication with five spacecraft on interplanetary missions or in Earth orbit, but none of the missed transmissions was critical or irreplaceable, said Joseph Wackley, Deep Space Network operations manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The network has antenna clusters in California, Spain and Australia so that the large radio dishes can be pointed toward spacecraft in any part of the solar system as the world turns. The antennas communicate with spacecraft as distant as Voyager 1, more than twice as far away as Pluto.

Strong winds spread the fires across expanses of drought-parched vegetation. One entrance to the Canberra complex has been closed because of a burned-out bridge, Churchill said. An outlying support structure -- a tower, used in calibrations of the antennas -- was damaged by the fires. The site's visitor center is temporarily closed. The fire destroyed another important astronomical resource in the area, the Mount Stromlo observatory of Australian National University.

The antenna site has its own backup electrical generators and water supply. The facility is sharing hot meals and water with area residents who have temporarily lost power and water to their homes.

"We are expecting further adverse weather conditions during the week and continue to prepare ourselves for fire duties as required," Churchill said.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Deep Space Network for NASA. The network's Canberra site is operated by British Aerospace, under contract to Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
-end-

Thanks for that, John.

I was wondering what might have happened to Tidbinbilla, but worked on the basis that no news was good news.

The nearby Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve was largely destroyed - 95% of the native animals in the reserve were destroyed by the fire, along with a fair bit of infrastructure.

My heart aches to read this. Mt Stromlo, the threat to the DSN's Canberra station, the wildlife preserve suffering so terribly....

My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who are struggling through this disaster.

nebularain,

did I really show any disrespect ??
u r the only member to came to this conclusion !!!
I'm as sad as all others. I asked at another forum, that international community shares the burdon of reconstruction.
in fact, I've received an email from creationist friend, who believes it was a holy punishment... that upsets me.

Cable - I'm sorry for what your creationist friend said. I am even more sorry that (s)he feels that way. I fear your friend has become lost in the concept of judgment and lost from the concept of mercy.

Unfortunately, your comment placed on the board came across just as biting to me as his/her comment came across to you. I knew you were being sarcastic; that's why it stung so much. In all due respect, such biting comments are not the best way to handle your frustrations.

I am sorry you have been so hurt.

I just wanted to stick up for Cable. It was very obvious to me that he didn't mean it and he actually made me smile - which is something we need in canberra at the moment.

It was so nice to read all your kind thoughts and know that you are all thinking of us as well as our telescopes.

Canberra,
welcome on board.

YES. this loss -- both human and material -- is not only for Australia, but for all astronomers around the world.

and I think a good idea, that international community gives financial help , to rebuild these telescopes.

also consulting help, on how to shield these sensitive equipment from fire. how about cutting all trees around the observatory ??

They wanted to cut down the trees many years ago but apparently that wouldn't have been aesthetically pleasing.
But then it is easy to be critical in hindsight and I'm not sure how much difference it would have made as there were fires nearby about a year ago and some of that area has been burnt out again. Couldn't have been much fuel there.
The weather conditions were freakish - temperatures in the high 30's, very high winds and severe drought.
I certainly don't know enough about it to lay any blame. And I'm sure all the people who are trying to blame others have no idea either.
Hopefully we can rebuild better and stronger. People, homes and telescopes alike. From what I have heard our astronomers are very positive and are looking to the future rather than dwelling on the disaster.

Everyone here seems more worried about the observatory than the FOUR HUNDRED families who lost their homes to the fires.

Speaking for myself, you're wrong. I care more for the families. However, this is an astronomy board, so we are talking about the impact on astronomy. If someone started a thread here about a disaster unrelated to astronomy, I would lock it. There are thousands of other bulletin boards out there where it's appropriate to discuss such things.

Don't mistake a discussion of other topics with a lack of feelings on others.

Sorry, misunderstanding. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
It's been all over the news here. Bushfires are a pretty regular thing in Australia, but these fires are particularly bad. Right now I can smell the smoke from the fires north of here.

BTW, excellent site.

I have an interesting comentary on the the people of Mt. Stromlo.

I wrote a quick note (email) of condolence to them and a reference to a place where they could pick up a partially figured, 72" mirror. Probably at a very good deal.

I expected no response as I assumed I'd be one of thousands. Penny Sackett, the head of the place, wrote back to me! She has to be up to her glutious maximus in alligators and she took time to write back! That is character! I admire that in ways I can't explain here.

I'll be contributing to her rebuilding fund as soon as there is such a thing. I ask that you all contribute what you can. Character like that must be rewarded!

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It's just one of those damn things of which there are many few. -- Dan Blocker

I´m glad to know that the Stromolo Southern Sky Survey will be carried out, in spite of all this tragedy.

May the researchers and the community recover soon from the loss they suffered.

On February's episode of The Sky at Night, Sir Patrick said the destruction a was "The worst blow astronomy has had in very many years."

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Yes, it'll be good to see a new Mount Stromlo Observatory rise from the ashes of the old one, on a ridge above Canberra.

Incidentally, I was out at the Tidbinbilla Tracking Station a couple of months ago, and they had on display some photographs taken on 18 January, the day the fires swept through Canberra and the surrounding region. Scary pictures they were, with the sky turned orange-brown from the smoke, and the grass burned black with little patches of flames.

Apparently the facility was only saved because they had a double shift of staff on duty for maintenance work, and were able to use them all for fire fighting.

It's now nearly six months since the fire. Hard to believe.

So, um ... not to be too blunt here or anything, but ... the pictures for the new Observatory's plans show it surrounded by grassland. Will it have some sort of a "fireline" protecting it from the next time the mountain catches fire?

tracer

I don't know. I've got to assume that the architects would've been very aware of protecting the place against all sorts of threats, including bushfire.

But the thing to understand is that the bushfire we got on 18 January was a once-in-a-century affair.

I just had an interesting thought, and I don't mean it in a bad way.

Is it like having your 486 stolen and getting a new pentium from the insurance company?

I assume the data is stored in other places and can be recovered.

If one were tracking an event and missed some input it would be a tragedy. When I use a kid I turned over a rain collector to see what was on the bottom, and ruined a 10-20yr weather record for the area.

I am a firm believer in paying for good insurance for many reasons. I think most businesses even have loss of wage coverage to keep their good employees.

Does some/any/all of this apply to research facilities?

Just curious.

__________________
'Sir........, I don't like these numbers.'
'Then hire somebody that can change them!'
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Pinemarten

I don't know the details, but I think the following is what happened:

- Some data was lost, including the work of several research students;
- An instrument under construction (either for a satellite or an observatory, I can't remember) was destroyed;
- Some historical instruments were destroyed;
- A lot of research hasn't been conducted over the last six months because the observatory is out of action;
- I think the Commonwealth government is its own insurer, so I think the loss is automatically covered, though there may be issues over how much funding the government gives the university.

So yes, while Mount Stromlo will get a new load of equipment, there's been a lot lost in research, equipment and time.

Most research data was evacuated before the fire reached the facility, some was lost, but on the whole nothing critical.

The new scope was a unit under construction for three years, and only had weeks before delivery was due. I believe it was being built for an institution in the US.

Among the historical scopes lost was the "Great Melbourne Telescope' Which was the first major home grown instrument (1870's) if I am not mistaken. This is a major heritage loss.

The Mount had no insurance, it is owned and funded by the Australian University in Canberra. The Federal government has pledged rebuilding costs, but the university is canvassing donations to rebuild bigger and better.

Over the years Stromlo's role in research had been down graded. Before the fire it was little more than an advanced training facility. People hone their skills, then move onto larger more sophisticated installations.

The Mount is not situated well for a long term investment. Within a generation the lights of Canberra will impact quite badly on the scope. However it's role as a world class training facility will not be diminished, if anything it will be increased.

Finally someone mentioned the plans showing grasslands, and would this be very smart, given recent events. No amount of clearing around the facility would have saved it. Canberra entered a situation of being under attack by an ember storm. Burning material was being pushed some 3 kilometers infront of the fire front fanned by 100 kilometre per hour winds

Some of the suburbs impacted, had fire breaks measured in hundreds of metres. Nothing, except fire fighting resources would have stoppped this. Trouble is the number of fire trucks needed far exceeded either Canberra or New South Wales ability to supply them.