Mount Wilson Observatory – saved and clean up time

Hello,

The cosmic diary was not accessible at the end of the week so I could not post any updates about the wild fire which was menacing the Mount Wilson Observatory. As mentioned in my last post, the fire intensity decreased significantly before reaching the observatory (thanks to the use backfires and fire retardants done by firefighters).Since Wednesday afternoon, the firefighters were very confident to be able to save the Mount Wilson since the meteorological conditions changed significantly with low wind and high humidity. The damages are anyway significant and the MWO is operated by the Mount Wilson Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation registered in California with offices on the Georgia State University campus in Atlanta. The director posted on his blog a call for donation to take care of the cleanup and further preparation and mitigation activities.
“If you are interested in helping us with the process of transitioning back to normal operations, we welcome your tax-deductible donation in any amount. Donations can be sent to: The Mount Wilson Institute, Fire Recovery Program, P.O. Box 1909, Atlanta, GA 30301-1909.”

It is also certain that the fire will have an impact of the scheduling of observing programs at the MWO, so several astronomers will lose their telescope time. but this lost is negligible if compared with the lost of  an entire observatory.

“On a eu chaud” as we will say in French, look at the satellite pictures located here for instance.  Below the latest image from the TowerCam showing the observatory intact. 🙂

A recent view of the observatory showing one of the domes intact. The smoke from the fire is still visible in the background.

Have a great labour day weekend if you are in the US

Clear skies

Franck M.