Mt Stromlo Happy snaps

[jjjnettie]

I was in Astro heaven today. Visits to two facilities. Though I must admit that the Mt Stromlo visit was very emotional. It was painful indeed to see the skeletal remains of such valuable resources. Not ashamed to say that it bought a tear to my eye. :sadeyes:

[jjjnettie]

From the outside you wouldn't think anything was wrong with the dome, but the interior tells another story. :(

[telemarker]

The Yale-Columbia scope brings back memories. We had my daughter's 7th birthday party in that dome, two years before it was destroyed.

:welcome: to Canberra and thanks for the piccies.

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

Yes, seconded, I have very clear memories of Stromlo from the year before the fire. I found it hard to believe it all, as I looked on from Sydney at the destruction.

My sister was holidaying on the South Coast at the time, and she said from there that they weren't sure if their home would even be standing on return.

Cheers

[midnight]

Some of those images are haunting and such a shame.

Thanks for showing - they are wonderful!

Darrin...

[Brundah1]

Ditto,

There are a lot more less obvious losses from the devastating 2003 fire. Many of post WW2 graduate astronomers from around the world did major research at Mt. Stromlo with the 74 inch and other instruments.

I visited Mt. Stromlo in 1961 and at that time the new 74 inch was small compared to northern hemisphere optical instruments. But like the Hubble and VLTs in Chile today, it was in high demand as the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.

One of the major historic losses were 75 years of original research records stored in the original CSO Admin building - all incinerated to powder! I was told during my visit in 2008, that majority of these had not been digitised!

There had been previous fires on Mt. Stromlo and some outbuildings lost, but minor damage compared to 2003.

Also in 2003 one resident staff member remained on site during the fire, saving two original per-war staff cottages with only garden hoses. It is a tragedy that no sprinkler systems, or fire protection measures were installed in the original CSO buildings.

Fortunately a collection of early personal records and history was assembled for the 1997 Bright Sparks Exhibition in Melbourne.

Not well known is the vital work of the CSO from 1942-45 when the CSO became an Optical Munitions design and production facility for the war effort: http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/org/cso.htm

We should be thankful that the forward thinking of MSO Director Dr. Richard Woolley in the early 1950s commenced research to identify a new observatory site - this work and his submission to PM Menzies led to the building of the AAO and all subsequent facilities at Siding Spring!
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/people/woolley.htm

The AAO Project Scientist was "Ben" Gascoigne (one of Woolley's key staff during WW2): http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/people/gascoigne.htm

The Siding Spring facilities are still maintained and managed by the ANU facilities at Mt. Stromlo.

The first telescope installed in the original CSO building, was the Heliostat,
(aka Sun Telescope), this remains in place in the north cupola, but was badly damaged during the 2003 fire.

A now famous early staff member of CSO was Dr. Clarbon Allen, was associated with the Heliostat from its commissioning. Later during 1942- 45, he used it to carry out vital Solar activity research for HF radio disturbance predictions for the Navy (my mother was his assistant during this period). He later became Professor of Astronomy at London University and wrote a fundamental work called "Astronomical Qualities" which remains a standard reference for astronomers world-wide:
http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/omp/people/allen.htm
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/allen-clabon-walter-cla-12129

[Ric]

Great shots JJJ

As a kid I used to ride my push bike in the forests around Mt Stromlo, I used to live only a few kilometres away.

If I knew you where in Canberra, we could have organised a meet n greet.

Cheers

[Paddy]

Thanks for your photos JJJ. Brings back memories of my visit there a few years ago. I found it quite emotional too.