Palomar Spared?
Published on Oct 25, 2007 at 6:09 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under observatories.
A while back, when I was writing my series on the Seven Wonders of Astronomy, I picked the Palomar Observatory as one of the wonders. Over the last week, as news poured out of southern California about the awful fires, I gradually became more concerned about the safety of the observatory. It was built in San Diego County, and that is where some of the worst fires were located. However, word was that the worst fires were well away from the observatory. But, that changed. One of the fires, the Poomacha fire, was actually in the vicinity of Palomar Mountain. They said several times that the observatory was not in immediate danger, and at one point Palomar Observatory was even listed as one of the evacuation sites, indicating that officials didn’t think that the fire was headed that way. And, now the wind has shifted, so the observatory is apparently safe for now. However, at this time it is closed, according to the observatory web site. I don’t know if that means simply not open to the public (but still doing research) or perhaps not even operating. But, at least the observatory seems to be out of danger.
-Astroprof
Danny Wilson on October 26, 2007 at 8:11 am: 1
Apparently calendars for the 200″ and 60″ are booked solid for research.
http://www.palomar.caltech.edu:8000/calendar.tcl?cal_date=2007-11-01
Scott Stuart on October 26, 2007 at 10:05 am: 2
It is pretty hard to do observations through the haze and smoke that wildfires create.
Additionally, you have to worry about smoke particles falling on the mirrors.
Astroprof on October 26, 2007 at 11:02 am: 3
The calendar is booked solid for a long time into the future. That doesn’t mean that they will actually get to follow the calendar (clouds, smoke, fires, etc can suspend operations).
Now, if the winds are blowing smoke and ash away from the observatory, then they might get observations in. However, there’s always the problem of access. Getting into the area is a problem. And, the observatory was being used as an evacuation site, so how much research will be done with a lot of people from the public wandering around? There was talk of using the Hale dome to house evacuees if things got too crowded, so that suggests that they were not planning on using the instrument at the time. But, the fire danger seems to be less now, so things may be getting back to normal.
Danny Wilson on October 27, 2007 at 10:51 am: 4
Well Scot and astroprof anyone who’s used a telescope knows Palomar is in a difficult situation regarding normal operations in the middle of a wildfire. Anyway, as an AAVSO observer for the past 17 years, I post this email sent me.
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:03:13 -0700
From: “Varun Bhalerao”
To: “aavso-discussion@mira.aavso.org”
Subject: [AAVSO-DIS] Fwd: Palomar Status
Hello, all !
more palomar news: good news is that the observatory is safe, bad news
is that it might take some time to resume operation…
– Varun
———- Forwarded message ———-
Dear Colleagues:
This is to inform you the status of Palomar Observatory. To start with
all of our staff are safe. Unfortunately the house of Karl Dunscombe,
a Palomar staff, house (located at the base of the mountain, near S6
and 76 junction) was burnt down.
On Wednesday an evacuation of the Observatory was undertaken. The wind
situation is better today. There still exist a number of fires in the
general vicinity but they appear to be under control. There are three
dozen fire trucks and hundreds of firefighters working in the general
area. The Observatory is being used by firefighters to fill their
tenders and establish a fire camp.
Observations have been suspended since Wednesday. There will be a
gradual process of recovery after which we will resume normal
activity. (For example, the power company expects a very gradual
recovery of power supply - weeks. Mop up would be at least a week
after the fires have died down. The ash is best dealt withi a rain.).
Sincerely
Shri Kulkarni
Director, COO
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