Mt. Wilson, JPL Threatened by Fire

by Nancy Atkinson on August 31, 2009

Wildfires threaten Mt. Wilson. Via Plutokiller's Twitpic

Wildfires threaten Mt. Wilson. Via Plutokiller's Twitpic


Wildfires burning in southern California are threatening the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Overnight, the fire size more than doubled, and as of this writing over 85,000 acres have burned. The situation looks better this morning for JPL, but Mt. Wilson, which also is home to several communication towers, is still in danger. Firefighters have vowed to do everything they can to save it. The fires have been fueled by hot, dry weather, but one resident who had to evacuate his home shared with me that the fire has spread with minimal winds, and the situation would be even worse with windy conditions.

Good news this morning is that two Super Scoopers – large water-dropping airplanes – have arrived from Canada and are expected to join the fire fight, officials said.

For the latest info on the fire, there is a live webcam from the KTLA television station showing Mt. Wilson, the LA Times is providing updated coverage on their website, you can listen live to radio station KNX. Mt. Wilson Observatory’s website is also posting updates, and the latest news there is that fire crews were instructed to withdraw from Mount Wilson. It appears the fire is under control there, but officials are worried what could happen if no firefighters are at the location. We’ll post an update when it becomes available. UPDATE (11:30 pm PDT): The LA Times Blog is now saying it is too dangerous for firefighters on Mt. Wilson because the fire is on both sides of Mt. Wilson Road, the only way off the mountain.

Ian O’Neill, who lives in the LA area is posting information on Astroengine, as well as Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Society blog.

For quick updates on Twitter, follow Emily, Ian, or Mike Brown.

Stay safe, everyone.

Tagged as: Free Desktop Picture

  • Dave Finton

    Anyone else get that annoying squacking sound when going to the web cam link? Or is it just me?

  • Jon Hanford

    Hopefully, historic Mt. Wilson and its facilities will be spared. The loss of both the historic telescopes as well as the new CHARA interferometer, solar observatory, and some rare and irreplaceable books, documents & plates would be a grave loss to the astronomical community. Thanks, Nancy, for the links to sites with current updates concerning the observatory.

    BTW, whatever happened to the astronomical facilities on La Palma wrt the recent wildfires on that island? I know they just inaugurated the 10.4m GTC less than a month ago, but I’ve heard no updates on how the astronomical facilities on La Palma fared in the wake of the fires.

  • Jon Hanford

    I came across this AP story on the blaze near Mt Wilson posted late Sunday night that put into perspective the importance historically and at present of the facility.

    ” Mount Wilson opened the heavens and then became a modern hub for communications on Earth. Now it is threatened by a force of nature that humans may be powerless to control.

    The wildfire ravaging the mountains north of Los Angeles drew within a half-mile of the revered Mount Wilson Observatory Monday, threatening the birthplace of modern astronomy as well as a virtual forest of communication towers that serve the region.

    Firefighters protecting Mount Wilson retreated Sunday but continued to dump flame retardant around the towers, transmitters and telescopes from the air. They said little could be done to stop the advancing flames, or predict how much damage would be done if the blaze ascends the 5,700-foot peak.

    “Whether it runs up to Mount Wilson and does intensive burning or just burns slowly around Mount Wilson, that’s up to the fire. We have no control over that,” said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Whaling.

    Dozens of buildings are scattered around the complex, along with a trove of telescopes housed at the century-old observatory.”

    “The telescopes at the 105-year-old Mount Wilson Observatory were the premier instruments in astronomy in the first half of the 20th Century, and the first to show earth its place in its universe.

    There are far more modern telescopes, but the observatory is still being used to make discoveries.

    Just a couple months ago, a Nobel Prize-winning astronomer used Mount Wilson to discover that the star Betelgeuse appears to be shrinking. In 1920, Betelgeuse was the first star to be measured — and it was done at Mount Wilson.

    Mount Wilson “literally revolutionized our perception of the universe after Copernicus,” said famed astronomer Wendy Freedman, director of the Carnegie Observatories, which ran Mount Wilson until 1989 when it was turned over to the Mount Wilson Institute. “It’s really hard to understate the significance of Mount Wilson. These telescopes achieved something monumental.” ”

    “Pioneering astronomer Edwin Hubble used Mount Wilson as his base of operations. In 1925, Hubble proved that the Milky Way is one of many galaxies and then found that we aren’t even at the center of our own galaxy, Freedman said.

    Hubble in 1929 used Mount Wilson to confirm that the universe is expanding. That led to the Big Bang theory of the universe.

    Until after World War II, when newer observatories such as Mount Palomar were built, Mount Wilson was what is now the Hubble of observatories. Albert Einstein visited. At least three of Jupiter’s moons were discovered there. It had the first 60-inch telescope, debuting in 1908, and the first 100-inch telescope, which first operated in 1917.

    While Mount Wilson showed Earth a whole new universe, much of the time the observatory focused on one star: the sun. It was the premier solar observatory for decades and today still helps scientists understand what’s going on inside our sun, said University of Southern California astronomer and physicist Ed Rhodes, who has been using Mount Wilson for more than 20 years.” Let’s hope Mother Nature looks kindly upon this historic site, unlike the disaster that befell Mt. Stromlo.

  • Jon Hanford

    It seems that this fire near Mt Wilson is affecting other observatories in the area. Ian O’Neill reports that Scott Kardel, who works at Mt Palomar and lives nearby is reporting that ash fall from the Station fires is forcing telescopes on Palomar to remain closed due to possible contamination of their mirrors from acidic ash even on clear nights on Mt Palomar. Ian’s interview with Scott Kardel can be found here: http://dsc.discovery.com/space/im/wildfires-observatories.html . The Big Bear Lake observatory is probably experiencing the same problem.

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