Mt Stromlo Observatories

[christiand]

I went and had a look at the burnt down Mt Stromlo Observatories today:

a few photos are at:

http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php ... 0035&pos=0

Cheers
CD

(I guess I now need a 12-24mm lens)

[johndec]

Nice pics Christian. It's such a shame that all that equipment was destroyed My wife and I were there only a few weeks before the fire as guests of an old school friend who (used to) work there...

I hope they rebuild it even better than before.

[fozzie]

CD,

Are they going to rebuild on the same site soon .

Nikon/Sigma 12-24mm sounds good to me, but then again it's not my money.

Goodbye for now,
Gee... look at the time, I must go to bed

[christiand]

There is an issue with insurance.
From what I gather the insurer(s) aren't paying the monies !
There is a dispute going on about an aproximately 50-70 million
dollar damage and the insurer(s) are offering 20 million.

Cheers
CD

I need to go to bed now !

[fozzie]

CD,

That's Insurance Companies for you.

It is a shame when sometihng like this happens .

Cheers,

[Killakoala]

It was a great shame that all the old antique telescopes and 'stuff' were destroyed in the fire.

It is so unfair that insurance companies screw around like they do, but if the Mt Stromlo trust only had 20mill of insurance, then that's all they will get.

Hopefully the government will fund some of the reconstruction.

The current site is too close to the city anyway, due to light pollution. Not as bad as the Sydney Obsevatory though, which is right next to the Harbour Bridge. (To be fair though, when it was built it was on the outskirts of town and the skies were darker)

[Rusty W. Griswald]

It should never have happened,:( I was at the last open day before they were destroyed through ACT Government negligence and remember the Oddie Telescope being full of ladybugs!

[MHD]

Do you want the inside word

Latest I heard is that the facility was indured for "replacement ability" so there is a lot of talk about what that ability should be....

There WILL be something built there and the New telescopes will have a public focus with the early hours of the evening (which are not the best for observing) to be dedicated to public use

[MHD]

It should never have happened,:( I was at the last open day before they were destroyed through ACT Government negligence and remember the Oddie Telescope being full of ladybugs!

I agree.... a huge multi million dollar facility built in the middle of bushfire prone land should have had some protection measures in place... I know a lot of students who were displaced by this and it has had a massive effect...