[meteorite-list] Sad day for astronomy

[Geoffcin]

All,

I've just received this email. One of the worlds greatest observatories has been totally destroyed.

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Fires destroy Stromlo observatory;

Irreplaceable equipment worth millions of dollars was destroyed when the
Canberra bushfires ravaged the historic Mount Stromlo Observatory.

Research officer Vince Ford, a 38-year veteran of the observatory, told AAP
staff were given 20 minutes' notice to evacuate as a fire storm on Mount
Stromlo caught authorities by surprise. A single road through pine forests
links the observatory, established by the Commonwealth in 1924, with suburban
Canberra.

"There's no way we could have saved it," Mr Ford said.

The fire storm destroyed all the observatory's telescopes and the original
observatory building, which dated back to 1924.

"It's gone, it's all gone," Mr Ford said.

"We've lost all the telescopes, the administration building, which was the
original observatory back in 1924.

"The first telescope has actually been there since 1910, it's gone.

"The main research telescopes, the 74-inch and 50-inch, they're gone. I've
just
seen pictures of it from the air and we don't have a telescope left."

The Australian National University (ANU) facility was one the premier
astronomy
training and research centres in Australia.

"(It's a huge loss) from a historical point of view, from a cultural point of
view, from a scientific point of view," Mr Ford said. "It's an absolute
disaster."

Observatory staff still hope they may be able to salvage some of their
research, stored on computers in office buildings that might have escaped the
worst of the blaze.

The observatory offices are believed to be standing, but have been water
damaged.

"At least we should be able to recover the hard disks from some of the
computers, but at this stage we're guessing," Mr Ford said.

"All we know is the observatory is gone."

Some back-up files would also have been stored at the main ANU campus in
Canberra.

"But a lot of the work will be at the observatory," Mr Ford said.

"Some of us, being suspicious sods, have stuff at home, but most of it would
have been on the computers or in the offices up at the observatory."

ANU vice-chancellor Ian Chubb was due to meet observatory chiefs to be briefed
on the extent of the damage.

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