
Smoke from a bush fire billows around the Parkes radio telescope in Australia. Fortunately, the observatory was not damaged.
Photo copyright: CSIRO / John Sarkissian.
"Just after the wind shifted and the fires moved away from the dish, the telescope was spared being engulfed by the billowing smoke," says Parkes operation scientist John M. Sarkissian. "It's a lucky dish indeed!"
Last year, bush fires ravaged the Mount Stromlo Observatory, located in Australia's capital city, Canberra. The Australian National University is building a wide-field 1.3-meter telescope to replace the 1.3-meter Great Melbourne Telescope, which was destroyed in the fire. But this new telescope will be located at the Siding Spring Observatory.