Arizona wildfire threatens Observatory
Crap...
From the
SanJose Mercury News/AP:
bq.
2 Wildfires Threaten Arizona Observatory
Firefighters widened a defensive ring around a mountaintop observatory Monday to try to hold back two wildfires and protect one of the world's most powerful telescopes under construction.
bq. Crews used bulldozers and fire retardant around the Mount Graham International Observatory, which has two operating telescopes and the $120 million soon-to-be-completed Large Binocular Telescope.
bq. Researchers from around the world use the observatory, which is an extension of the University of Arizona.
bq. "The building's not going to burn, but the smoke and heat could do some real damage to the instruments inside," said Pruett Small, a fire official.
The buildings will not burn but the smoke damage will take a while to recover from -- smoke particles do no good to optical surfaces, they will need to be cleaned and recoated.
Posted by DaveH at July 7, 2004 11:32 PM