siding spring obs. fires: day after

read my original post last night about bush fires hitting siding springs observatory.

now it is morning time the next day.   very early.   i slept soundly for a few hours.

what i know:  all people are safe.   yay!  firefighters are currently onsite at siding spring.    they say there is some damage to facilities, but they have not assessed the extent.

Morning view via LCOGT

the sun has risen and the first images available show positive signs of buildings standing where we saw evidence of small fires last night.  the main 4-meter telescope has survived the flame - which is good, as it is the designated fire evacuation area on the mountain.


here is a slower timelapse (from brad tucker) of the weather cameras outside the LCOGT telescope on SSO.   it covers most of yesterday and last night after darkness hit:



is case youre not clear where siding spring is located, here's a map:

Location of Siding Spring Observatory, Australia (Credit: LCOGT)

thanks for all your feedback, everyone.  i'll keep this page updated throughout the day.

UPDATE (08:00): the LCOGT cameras show the NSW rural fire service on site at siding spring.

the mayor of coona said this morning that the NSW RFS report the astronomer's lodge on site has been destroyed, but other buildings appear intact.   if the scopes are operational, i'll take my tent to sleep in!  ;)  (well, only if i get official permission, of course...)

UPDATE (08:20):  a photo from ryan unicomb, which must be an aerial shot from NSW RFS, but i'm not sure of their link (update: link).  you can see the burned patches go right up to the telescopes - the top right shows the skymapper and the square box houses the 2.3 meter.  not sure what the diagonal dark line indicates across that dome  the dark diagonal line shows stairs going to the top of the building.

UPDATE (08:35):  wow.  this is/was the astronomer's lodge, where we slept and ate while observing.  photo from NSW RFS:

UPDATE (09:00): from accounts i'm hearing, the structural destruction on the mountain is limited to the astronomer's lodge, the visitor's center, and a few of the staff homes.   the telescope facilities are intact, some are responding to computer communication from remote locations, but i cannot give more details than that for now.

in preparation for this possibility, and because of the fires in mt stromlo ten years ago, some measures have been taken over the years to help reduce the damage of bush fires at siding spring.  there have been controlled fires over the last six months, to rid the area of small fuel.  also, the facilities have mesh installed to repel embers from spreading fires too rapidly.

NSW RFS have reported that about a dozen homes near siding spring have been destroyed.   so sad. 

UPDATE (09:10):  the sydney morning herald's front page this morning quotes a witness as saying, "it looked like an atomic bomb":

UPDATE (09:30):  for those who are not familiar with the siding spring observatory, the site is owned and operated by the australian national university in canberra.  many telescopes are operated by the australian astronomical observatory (my employer) including the 4-meter anglo-australian telescope - the largest optical telescope in australia.  here is a list of all the telescopes at siding spring:

ANU 2.3m Telescope
ANU Skymapper Telescope
Uppsala Near Earth Object Survey Telescope
3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope
United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope
Hat-South Telescope Network
Solaris Telescope
Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment – ROTSE
UNSW Automated Patrol Telescope
Faulkes Telescope South
i-Telescope.net
ANU 40 inch Telescope (decommissioned)
ANU 16 inch Telescope (decommissioned)
ANU 24 inch Telescope (decommissioned)

UPDATE (09:50): here is a photo of the destroyed director's cottage at SSO (from NSW RFS).  the structure on the left is/was the astronomer's lodge.  at the top right, you can see the UK schmid telescope and the faulkes south - where the webcams captured a lot of helpful images last night!  you can see the pedestrian path in the foreground leading to the 4m AAT off to the right of the photo.

UPDATE (09:55):  another shot of siding springs from NSW RFS (have i mentioned that they have been amazing and continue to fight the ongoing fire!).  the massive AAT dome looks ok.  the destroyed lodge is visible at left.  still waiting for the "smoke to clear."

we are having a group meeting now to receive official updates on the situation at SSO.  i'll update with what info i can!

UPDATE (10:45):  there will be a two week downtime at siding spring while clean up commences and the full extent of the damage is assessed.   some staff are on site now and reporting no obvious major damage to facilities and instrumentation (other than the housing structures i mentioned before).

a project i work on was scheduled to use the 4 m telescope tonight and for the next 3 nights!   no data for us, but people are safe, and that's important.

observing will resume as soon as possible, when damage is fully assessed and cleaned.

UPDATE (11:05):  the MOPRA telescope structure appears to be fine, but the building from which astronomers operate it has been damaged by the fires.

UPDATE (11:10):  here is the current view of australia from space, thanks to chris hadfield, an astronaut currently on the international space station!!

UPDATE (11:35): here is an aerial shot of the visitor center at siding spring (from NSW RFS).   it doesnt look like there is much structural damage from this photo, but there are black patches outside the main entrance that are likely due to fire damage.  from reports i've heard, there was fire inside that was exstinguished this morning.  i do not know the extent of the damage to the contents, yet.

UPDATE (11:44):  there is a relevant article at the conversation with quotes from my self, nobel laureate brian schmidt, and astronomer michael brown.

UPDATE (12:55):  the ANU will be holding a press conference at 13:15 (link).

UPDATE (13:00):  i'm doing a virtual star party on and off for the next hour.  (link here)

UPDATE (13:40):  fires near coonabarabran continue.  do not return or try to explore area. 

from ANU press statement:

- observatory closed for two weeks.  do not try to visit.
- generators are providing power to essential services, and the switch over was smooth - good to systems which would have glitched if not turned off properly. 
- unclear when roads to siding springs will reopen.
- ANU is assessing alternative accommodation for affected staff

- NSW deputy premier Andrew Stoner reports 28 homes around coonabarabran have been lost
- smoke from "Wambelong Fire" shot 14 km into the air!

UPDATE (13:45): watch ABC news here.  (which includes an interview with AAO acting director, andrew hopkins, with completely blank book shelves behind him!   haha - new office...)

UPDATE (14:49):  just reminiscing a bit about working with the 4m AAT.  at night, we use the telescope and the instruments.  during the days, when we're not sleeping, we climb around enjoying the views.  ::sigh::

double rainbow from the AAT catwalk

from the top of the AAT dome

UPDATE (13:00):  the AAO website has released some new photos of siding spring via the NSW RFS.  it's pretty amazing that the AAT dome looks so clean and there is still a lot of plant life remaining!

Photo of AAT (from AAO and RFS)

UPDATE (15:50): not how i was hoping the telescope would make front page news :(

UPDATE (16:00):   brian schmidt remembers the devastating mt stromlo fires that hit canberra exactly ten years ago this week:  link to article.

UPDATE (16:05):  the MOPRA antenna does not appear to be damaged (visible at the top of the image below), but the support building (with the kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom and small office) is a pile of rubble.  no CSIRO staff can access the site until tomorrow at the earliest.

UPDATE (17:00):  the NSW Rural Fire Service confirmed 33 homes (and 50 sheds) lost due to the "wambelong" fire near coonabarabran and siding spring.  some of these homes belong to people i consider friends.   i'm very sad to report the news.

UPDATE (17:30):  there are still some fires burning in the vicinity of coonabarabran, but the observatory is not under direct threat now.  siding spring observatory is officially closed to everyone unless authorized by the rural fire service (including observatory staff).   therefore all observing is suspended for two weeks (at least) and the full damage assessment is delayed until wednesday (it is currently monday late afternoon SSO local time).   major telescope facilities appear to be ok and communication has been made with several of the computer systems from remote locations.

unless something major develops, i will not update this post anymore, because i have a major deadline tomorrow and i need to concentrate.   THE SCIENCE WILL GO ON, despite the fact that i'm not getting the data from the AAT that i was scheduled to get over the next 4 nights :(   i'll start another post about the situation when i have more info, and the AAO website will keep updated.

as a final reflection, please look at beautiful photos, taken by AAO's angel lopez-sanchez, of SSO between 2007 and 2012:  link HERE.

and finally, a stunning panoramic image taken 4 months ago of the milky way over siding spring and the 4-meter anglo-australian telescope, by AAO's jamie gilbert.

the milky way over siding spring (credit: jamie gilbert)

 
report of the second day after the fire: SSO - as the smoke clears.

observational astronomy: challenges and puzzles

a nebulous nursery lives about 7,000 light-years away from us and is known as the carina nebula.


the carina nebula encompasses such interstellar wonders as the powerful star, eta carinae, and the star-forming region, NGC 3324! the above 50 light year, wide-angle image comes from the hubble heritage project, and reminds me of one of my favorite aspects of observational astronomy; trying to find the particular patterns inside an image that you want to point your telescope to.

for instance, imagine you want to further explore the properties of a dust pillar in the carina nebula, by collecting special observations that no one has previously created. all you have are the coordinates of the object and the Hubble reference image that comes from the larger image above:


you have successfully written a proposal to do the research, you were granted the observing time on the telescope, and now you are sitting inside the telescope dome ready to commence observations. having completed all your calibration tests, you program the coordinates of the pillar into the computer, move the telescope, command the technology to take a data image, and a short bit later, a raw image pops up on your computer screen:


(please note: the raw image directly from the telescope would look black and white, have much lower resolution, and probably not show much more than the stellar points of light**, but stick with me during this simple demonstrative scenario... i simply captured these shots while interactively exploring a wide-field view of carina)

from your telescope snapshot, you expect to see something vaguely like the above hubble image you prepared before arriving at the observatory, but clearly you are looking at something else! oh no... it appears that the pointing of the telescope is not correct by some unknown amount and your job is to sort it all out: find your object in the sky, correct the telescope's pointing, and get on with the collecting data before you've wasted too much time in the night.


so you search around the original wide-field image for hints of the structure you see in the telescope image, keeping in mind that you may be comparing two images with different orientations, rotations, flips, and/or flops (the challenge for anyone interested is to find the two cut outs above in the first image of the entire carina nebula). finally, you think you've identified what you are seeing thru the telescope, so you estimate which direction you must digitally nudge the telescope in order to move it just the right way to exactly image the dust pillar!

most likely you iterate this process until you have found your object!! once the telescope is properly aligned, you excitedly start exposing your image, and sit back hoping nothing goes wrong with the whole setup while you wait to see your data!


each telescope seems to have different pointing accuracies, with each individual telescope performing less precisely when tipped over to more extreme angles. people who own their own smaller telescopes are probably familiar with these issues. the biggest (most expensive) telescopes in the world have teams of astronomers and technicians around, specially trained to understand their particular quirks and tendencies, which makes observing during a night much more time efficient. smaller telescopes (2-4-meter class) generally allow training students and regular astronomers to use them - left to individually discover the quirks and fix any problems that should occur during the night! personally, i find the latter opportunity to be quite fun, most of the time. sometimes its incredibly frustrating if something serious goes wrong, or you cant solve an issue and have to wait for the regular staff to fix the problem during the day!

** the quick acquisition images used to isolate a target in the telescope field of view are generally not able to detect any kind of nebulosity. usually i locate my target galaxies using patterns found in the the bright stellar points of light in the image... but i thought the nebular features were more visually stimulating for this discussion ;)

what does the ISS have in common with a 2.7m telescope in texas?

earlier this week, international space station (ISS) resident chris hadfield posted a photo of a hole in the solar array attached to the earth's orbiting domicile.  see it?

a small space rock shot through the solar array and created that hole.   it was lucky that the rock didnt go through the main compartments of the ISS. 

unexpectedly the photo reminded me of my phd days observing with the 2.7meter telescope in west texas at mcdonald observatory. this telescope is a beast - with a casing built by a company that also built submarines!

the primary mirror has an interesting, unexpected history, that also involves holes, but of a different origin.  in 1970, a new employee at the observatory in west texas was struggling to settle into the quiet life experienced by those living in the isolated region. 

one night, he entered the telescope dome, went to the well-known astronomer operating the telescope, pointed a gun at him and told him to bring the telescope down to the horizon.  

when the telescope is lowered all the way, you can walk right down along the metal telescope tube and stand next to the thick mirror.   this guy was unhappy about something that i dont understand, and it caused him to walk up to the telescope with the gun and shoot directly at the primary mirror at point-blank range.

much to his dismay, the powerful gun shots did not shatter the telescope's mirror!   the stories i've heard describe how he then picked up a mallet in his frustration and tried to hit the mirror repeatedly in order to damage it.  no luck. 

he was stopped quickly after that by the security on site at the observatory, but the damage to the telescope was done, and you can still see it today.

bullet holes in the 2.7m telescope at mcdonald observatory (credit: bill keel)

it turns out that the bullet holes did not cause very much damage to the thick fused silica, which is definitely stronger than your average glass mirror.   the engineers and astronomers at mcdonald observatory at the time did several tests and determined that the holes only blocked 1% of the total amount of light that bounces of the mirror into the rest of the light path.  

they sanded off the inside of the holes and painted them black in order to prevent light from bouncing around inside the system, and otherwise, nothing changed.

whenever anyone visited me at the observatory, my tour would include lowering the telescope and showing off the bullet holes, because they're just so crazy!   here i am on the top of the dome that contains the 2.7m telescope (i wasnt officially allowed to be up there so ssshhhhh, dont tell anyone...).

i should say something here about the ridiculous US policy on gun control.   i've tried to write posts about this issue a couple times now, once after the shooting of representative gabby giffords in arizona in 2011, then after the sandy hook elementary school shootings last year, and another after the boston marathon bombings last month.  but i havent been able to finish those posts, for various reasons. 

instead, i'll just link to the daily show's series about the issue, which highlights the fact that australia instituted effective gun control policy three months after a major massacre occurred about a decade ago, and the policy has been 100% successful. the number of both gun-related homicides and suicides had decreased dramatically.   the evidence is obvious.   US politicians must stop pandering to lobbyists.   when did policy become about getting voted in during the next election and not about the best results for the people in the country?   it's despicable. 

UTs old telescope

last weekend was the last for my stint as the star party host for UT's old telescope. friday night's sky cleared up nicely, but only 2 people showed up to the party! so i had lots of time to look at mars, and the pleiades and take pictures of the telescope. the main lens in this refracting telescope is 9-inches in diameter and was crafted in the 1890s! the mount-structure was built in the 1930's and it has been there ever since!


there are absolutely no electronic parts running this old beast. the telescope stays pointed at stars because of the mechanical clock drive.


there's a weight that hangs down inside the mount and slowly unwinds the gears by the force of gravity. the system is calibrated to move the telescope very slowly in order to move the telescope in the opposite direction of earths rotation, but at the exact same rate. in this way, the telescope follows the stars as they travel westward across the sky and i dont have to constantly re-align the telescope every couple minutes!! every hour or so, i have to wind the mechanism.... if there are kids around, i let them wind it because they get *so* excited to participate!


the kids also love the manual right ascension wheel that looks like an old pirate ship steering wheel. its a good thing i can lock this because kids always run up to it and try to turn it!

twinkle twinkle little stars

while sitting inside the control room of a telescope, we are isolated from seeing exactly what's happening with the weather outside, except for when we venture out into the cold to check the sky. i like to go out and check fairly often, acclimate my eyes to the darkness, see the stars... but its cold and conditions can change rapidly enough, that its necessary to have weather monitoring devices working all the time (if possible!).

inside UKIRT's control room, there is a screen showing the realtime view from an all-sky camera! the image below shows that view... you can see the telescope on the left side and the milky way galaxy streaming across the sky!


the green plus sign is where our telescope is pointing and the little yellow crosshairs show the position of a companion telescope. at the upper left, above the white telescope, you can see a fainter silver dome with a big line shooting out of it! that is the laser used by the gemini telescope adaptive optics system. the laser is clearly visible when i go outside, and i think its great fun to watch it change positions!

so what are adaptive optics and why do we shoot lasers into the sky??

because photons of light from distant stars get shaken up as they pass thru the earth's atmosphere, causing them to "twinkle" to our eyes. the more the photons get shaken up, the bigger and "fuzzier" objects appear in a telescopic image (this is the major advantage of putting telescopes in space). if we can somehow determine the turbulence in the atmosphere as the photons pass thru it, we can correct for it and get sharper images of the stars!

adaptive optics is a fascinating technique that has recently come in to use by several major telescopes around the world to improve the image sharpness. to correct for atmospheric distortions, you use a specific guide star, a quick computer to measure how the star "twinkles", and a special deformable mirror that sits inside the optical path of the telescope.

the computer measures the changing light coming from the guide star every millisecond or less, then rapidly sends signals to adjust the shape of the special mirror in order to immediately correct for the "twinkle." if there is no natural guide star bright enough to use in the part of the sky that you happen to be observing, you can create an artificial guide star with a laser! a "laser guide star" it's called.

here's a nice example of how impressively the use of adaptive optics can improve image quality!


pretty amazing difference, no? adaptive optics systems are incredibly complicated to develop and produce, so not all telescopes use them, but they become more important as telescope mirror sizes increase.

now to go check the sky....

siding spring observatory fires

i work for the australian astronomical observatory, which maintains and operates several telescopes at siding spring observatory - the largest optical observatory in australia.   i've spent many nights out at the observatory over the past 2 years, and always enjoy the ~7 hour drive northwest from sydney to get there.

today, bushfires swept through the warrumbungle national park, which grows around the observatory.   the observatory was officially evacuated by the NSW rural fire service sometime around 4pm today.  i received an email notification and then started watching websites, twitter, and the facebook pages of my colleagues for updates. 

all SSO staff evacuated the observatory to coonabarabran safely, and then we were left to watch images on the all-sky webcams.   dark smoke clouds cover the view...

then the NSW rural fire service posted this image, and i started to cry.   that's the 4-meter AAT, the telescope i use when i go. 

here is a view from about 30 minutes later.  

on instagram,  mr_unicomb posted this image from coonabarabran:

the AAO's website showed the recorded temperature scale, with an incredible peak above 100 degrees C (212 F)!!

but the temperature has receded and hopefully the worst is done.

there are 12 telescopes on site.  you can watch a timelapse of the 12 hours leading up to the flames from the LCOGT telescope at siding spring: here.

bush fires tore through the mt stromlo observatory near canberra, exactly 10 years ago this week.  i remember the event in detail as it happened when i was a graduate student.   as a result of those fires, many measures were taken to protect telescopes at SSO.   tomorrow we will see how well those protections held. 

as of 19:40, we know that some damage has occurred at the observatory, but the webcams are still functional.   i remain hopeful. 

UPDATE (20:00, sydney local time, 13 Jan 2013): Astronomers cannot communicate with the SkyMapper telescope remotely, but the 2.3m telescope is still talking to computers and working. fire service has confirmed there is damage at the observatory, and two nearby properties have been destroyed.   :(

UPDATE (20:20):  the MOPRA radio telescope that lives in the valley close to siding spring is offline.  no communication.   but astronomers are hopeful that the telescope is ok, as the wind was pushing the fire elsewhere when they lost contact.

Last visual communication from MOPRA

the recently constructed iTelescope facility has power and communication to site on siding spring. 

UPDATE (20:40):  the sun has set at siding spring.   a friend in nearby coona says small flames are visible through her camera on the hills below and around the observatory.  winds are blowing north, away from siding spring, thankfully.

UPDATE (20:47): another shot from MOPRA.   this one was at 17:58, 45 minutes before the one above was taken. 

UPDATE (20:55):  perspective from australian nobel laureate, brian schmidt (via facebook):

I have had what has to be a quintessential experience of the current era- watching a fire front pass through Siding Springs Observatory live, via the internet, using all of the remote observing information we have on various telescopes, while getting simultaneous news and views via twitter. In 2003, when MSO burned down, I got a single SMS from the Great Melbourne Telescope - which told me its temperature reading was out of range - 75C. The GMTs replacement, SkyMapper, only reached 65 today (although the AAT did make well over 100C), and while it is currently off-line - is clearly not a cinder like the GMT was a few minutes at the fire went through 9 years and 360 days ago. I fear a lot of damage has been done though, even if not the wholesale destruction we faced in 2003 at MSO. Tomorrow will tell, and then will come the long, slow process of recovery.

UPDATE (21:09): fires visible on siding springs from the LCOGT live webcams:

UPDATE (21:40): a timelapse video from the MOPRA telescope in the valley near siding spring.  it ends at sunset, so doesnt reflect the current situation (lots of flames up on siding spring):




UPDATE (21:49): as an observer was leaving siding spring today around 3:30 pm, after the official evacuation was called, he took this photo of SSO during the drive out.

leaving SSO this afternoon. (credit: tom shanks)

i havent said it yet, but a massive thank you to the NSW fire services.   they are incredibly brave and capable people. 

UPDATE (22:01): it appears now, according to the LCOGT cameras, that some building are close to, or on fire now.   these could include houses where staff members live, the lodge where astronomers stay (note: no one is on the mountain at this time), and the kitchen and dining room where astronomers eat while observing.

UPDATE (22:10): fire services need bandwidth and access to the webcams and have asked us to stay off of them, so i am.  tomorrow will be a long day.

UPDATE (22:30)  one webcam is mirrored to ANU, and this photo was just captured (credit: brian schmidt)... electronics are not surviving this heat.

UPDATE (23:00): the NSW rural fire services just posted an emergency statement on their website.  the fire is still strong, but moving away from coonabarabran (where are the SSO astronomers and staff are currently) and away from siding spring.   conditions are still too dangerous at site for anyone to go and assess the current damage.   it will have to wait until tomorrow. 

UPDATE (23:15):  good news!  astronomers are able to get readings from the 2.3 meter telescope on siding spring.  the interior temperature is ok (20 C).

a reminder, please stay off any webcams that access SSO, so that fire services can use them.


UPDATE (23:55):  follow major updates from the NSW fire services here.  feel free to leave updates in the comments.

i'm going to sleep (hopefully) and will give appropriate updates in the morning when i hear them.   many probably won't be good, i fear, but i'm relieved to know that all my friends and colleagues working at SSO were evacuated in time.  equipment is replaceable but people are not.  thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and your news updates.    good night.

ps.  i'll leave you with my favorite photo ever from siding spring.   this is the view early one morning, looking out at the warrumbungles from the catwalk around the 4 meter AAT telescope.

1) the story of what was discovered the first day after the fire:  siding spring observatory fires, the next day.

2) the second day: SSO - as the smoke clears.

3) the third day: SSO - day three.

4) the fourth day: SSO - day four.

5) one week after: SSO - one week later.

6) a week and a half: SSO - a week of waiting.

7) two and a half weeks: SSO - clean up begins.

8) almost three weeks: SSO - before and after fires.

9) almost ready to open: SSO - burn scars.

10) one month later: SSO - return to science.

11) two months later: SSO - regrowth.

12) April 2013: SSO opens to the public.

13) January 2014: SSO one year later.

scenes from mauna kea

i have one more night left on the top of mauna kea for this observing run with UKIRT, so i thought i'd share some photos from the week.

across the cinder cone valley from where our telescope is located, sits the suburu telescope (left), the kecks (center), then NASA's infrared telescope facility (IRTF):


on UKIRT's side of the cinder cone are (L to R) the canada france hawaii telescope (CFHT), the gemini-north observatory, and the university of hawaii's 88-inch telescope.


UKIRT pointing towards the zenith inside its dome:



UKIRT's 3.8 meter diameter primary mirror.



inside the control room.


a quirk of high altitude - inflated potato chip bags!


air pressure lowers as you go higher and higher in altitude. the pressure is still high inside the sealed bag, so the air inside pushes out as usual, but feels no resistance from the low-pressure air outside. so the bag puffs up! (this is also why its a good idea to put any bottled liquids in bags when flying!)


using the night vision goggles you can even more clearly see the gemini telescope's AO laser shooting up to the sky!


here's a view of the UKIRT telescope, the milky way galaxy (a bit saturated), and glowing lava!


i never get tired of the views of this 14000 ft mountain and its shadow in the distance.


and some fun with panoramas. the scope on the left is UKIRT.


lake waiau on mauna kea is the 7th highest lake in the US at 13000 ft. its a short, but exhausting walk from the summit to get there.



more photos here!