California Wildfires Destroy Hidden Hill Observatory (trivalleystargazers.org) 32
New submitter fx4m writes: Historic Lick Observatory in California survived the current massive wildfires, but the nearby, much smaller Hidden Hill Observatory, run my the Tri-Valley Stargazers Astronomy Club, was not so lucky. The building, large amateur-built telescope, accessories, and electronics were all completely destroyed. Much of the assets of the science public outreach and education based non-profit organization went up in smoke. A description of the observatory, its history, and sad pictures of the destruction can be found at the link, with more information at their GoFundMe page.
Re:no a go fund me page (Score:4, Informative)
their donation page is hosted on their own website....not on go fundme
They have a gofundme at https://charity.gofundme.com/o... [gofundme.com]
It is sad but... (Score:3)
... given these fires have been around for a while now couldn't someone have gone up there and rescued some of the kit days or even weeks ago?
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Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
couldn't someone have gone up there and rescued some of the kit days or even weeks ago?
Unfortunately, since Kamala Harris is no longer attorney general of California, there is none left to fight for keeping non-violent inmates in overcrowded prison [prospect.org], for holding innocent people behind bars [latimes.com], that is for procuring $1/hour slave workforce [msn.com] and fighting wildfires in California.
It's too bad they couldn't / didn't get the mirror (Score:3)
I was just thinking, it's too bad nobody grabbed the mirror from the big telescope. That's the critical and expensive piece, but quick and easy to remove by taking out the three collimation thumbscrews. It's a mirror perhaps 10" in diameter or so, so very easy to transport.
Maybe a move might help (Score:1)
Re:Maybe a move might help (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure an astronomy club based in California, with members in California, that meet in California would prefer to do all their observations in say, Texas. I mean, they could just drive there on a Friday, spend a weekend observing then drive back. Or maybe they could have it Georgia so on a nice cloud free night go for a drive and make their observations, and head back to their job in the morning?
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The superior solution is hard: change the way humans live to deal with forest fires. And if we do not do something soon, we will see a breakdown of the global infrastructure that sustains us. The fires burning in the West have all these cascading effects â" erosion, changes in runoff, landslides. Fire is not an isolated thing. It impacts the air, water, wildlife, food systems and humans. This is not a problem that will be solved by hiring 10% more fire fighters or buying another firetruck. It requires
Re: Maybe a move might help (Score:2)
The problem now is many homes have been built, so aggressive fire fighting practices are starting to increase.
Re: Maybe a move might help (Score:2)
Iâ(TM)m no expert either! But NPR aired an interview with Californiaâ(TM)s head firefighter and he said that, yes, fires are normal but what is happening in CA now is not. Itâ(TM)s more than just building too many structures near the wilderness, too. He said that global warming is exacerbating all of these problems and we need to make significant investments to protect more rural communities from going up in smoke. That these rural communities are less typically (but not always) less affluent
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I'm sure an astronomy club based in California, with members in California, that meet in California would prefer to do all their observations in say, Texas. I mean, they could just drive there on a Friday, spend a weekend observing then drive back. Or maybe they could have it Georgia so on a nice cloud free night go for a drive and make their observations, and head back to their job in the morning?
No need to drive anywhere. Deep Sky West [deepskywest.com] is located outside of Santa Fe, NM and is billed as
REMOTE IMAGING FOR THE REST OF US
Deep Sky West (DSW) makes remote telescope imaging and telescope hosting affordable for the “average” backyard astrophotographer.
Basically they have high powered telescopes at altitude, in a dark valley and you rent them out as needed, and control/get the images via the internet.
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So an amateur astronomy club should rent telescope time? You do realize that takes half the fun out of it - what, your enter club gathers around a projector and laptop and observes?
That, and I'm sure the rents are much higher during the times they'd like to observe as well - perhaps when someone interesting is happening in the sky, only to find it all rented
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If you read the link you'd see that you can also colocate your own telescopes at the site (for a small fee of course). What's better than simply using your own equipment? Using your own equipment in a location that is perfect for observation.
go fund me link (Score:1)
That's a shame (Score:3)
I didn't know about the club but it is too bad. Apparently it was originally started by employees of LLNL. They had an 18 inch mirror in a building with a sliding roof that was a loss, and a smaller telescope in a dome that seems like it might be ok. But they just finished a renovation and didn't have fire insurance..
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If true, that's baffling. I can't imagine any time when fire insurance is *more* important than during renovation. Just look at Notre Dame Cathedral.
They seriously need a new web site (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Looks like a shed burned down, with some stuff inside it. Now while I'm sure the stuff was on the expensive side, it's not like some huge telescope and supercomputers were in that shack. This seems to be about on par with a single ("regular person" not "celebrity mansion") house burning down, hardly news-worthy?
You can see the engine of destruction (Score:3)
I feel bad for them, but in areas where wildfire is a danger why did they have three massive trees right against the building?
I"m pretty sure the whole place would be intact if they had simply cleared those away at some point.
Anyone who lives in a wild area needs to clear any kind of burnable vegetation well away from buildings.
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Given California's leadership, cutting down those trees was probably illegal (under some climate change law preventing loss of trees).
you're right though, shame we live in a dystopian bureaucratic future we only read about in scifi books.
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They should have built it out of the same stuff they made that picnic table with.