THE fire threat at Siding Spring Observatory in NSW was a case of deja vu for Australian National University (ANU) professor John Morris.
Nearly a decade ago Prof Morris was acting as director of the Australian National University's astronomy and astrophysics research school when the university's Mount Stromlo Observatory (MSO) fell victim to Canberra's firestorm.
He was acting in the same role on Sunday when he learned fires were heading for Siding Spring Observatory in NSW.
It was "deja vu", he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
The Siding Spring Observatory was officially opened in 1964 because urban light pollution was making stargazing more difficult at the Mount Stromlo facility in Canberra.
It has since become Australia's premier facility for optical and infrared astrophysics observations, where observing international astronomers come to stay.
Dr Amanda Bauer, a Super Science Fellow at the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO), said it housed one of the world's most innovative and productive telescopes.
Sitting atop a 1164m hill, the four-metre telescope - maintained and operated by AAO - gives astronomers a look at the magnificent sights space has to offer, including the Southern Cross and the Milky Way.
"The view of the southern hemisphere night sky is the most spectacular anywhere that I have seen it," Dr Bauer told AAP on Monday.
Technology developed there included a robotic optical-fibre positioning system, which is now being used in Chile, she said.
According to ANU the observatory has witnessed a number of major discoveries.
In the early 2000s, the four-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) completed a survey of more than 200,000 galaxies.
By measuring their distance the survey was able to confirm the existence of dark energy, which led ultimately to the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics being awarded in part to ANU professor Brian Schmidt.
Prof Morris said the AAT was the site's major research instrument, but the Skymapper built after the 2003 Mount Stromlo fire was now providing important information to researchers.
There are also six or seven client telescopes at the site.
"We're interested obviously in the way in which the universe operates," Prof Morris told reporters.
"It's probably no exaggeration to say that the suite of telescopes at Siding Spring played a role in Brian Schmidt, our Nobel laureate, deciding to come and work in Australia.
"He spent a lot of time at Siding Spring and he's been watching what's been going on with great interest."
Schmidt was tweeting about the fire's movements and tweeting pictures of the devastation provided by the Rural Fire Service.
"The observatory seems to have largely survived, which is good news for a change, but many lost their homes," he tweeted on Monday.
Much been learnt from the telescopes at the site about individual galaxies, including the Milky Way and its stars.
Prof Morris said researchers tune their ideas using the Siding Spring telescopes, making hypotheses before using telescopes in Chile and Hawaii to test their theories.
In August 2007, during "routine observations" at the observatory, ANU astronomer Robert McNaught discovered a 10km-wide comet.
"It was the brightest comet in more than 40 years and was easily visible to the naked eye for observers in the southern hemisphere," ANU said in a statement.
Dr Bauer said work had been done at Siding Spring Observatory over the past decade to make it fire-ready, following the 2003 firestorm that engulfed Mt Stromlo in Canberra, completely destroying five of its historic optical telescopes.
The damage was so bad, authorities considered abandoning the Mount Stromlo site.
There are no longer working research telescopes at MSO - but it houses an advanced instrumentation technology centre.
ANU's acting director of facilities and services Wayne Ford said the Siding Spring Observatory was always going to be a bushfire risk.
"It borders a national park and it's heavily forested ... it's actually located on a mountain and fires like going up mountains," Ford said.
The devastation at Mount Stromlo provided many lessons.
A concerted effort had been made to improve fire trails near Siding Spring and to clear surrounding bush to protect it in the event of a bushfire.
"It's difficult land to do anything further than what we did, and we think our preparation was excellent," Ford said.
Prof Morris said it could take some time before the impact of the extreme heat and embers on the telescopes was assessed.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Observatory fire threat a 'deja vu' moment
Dengan url
http://mesinjahitan.blogspot.com/2013/01/observatory-fire-threat-deja-vu-moment.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Observatory fire threat a 'deja vu' moment
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Observatory fire threat a 'deja vu' moment
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar