Status Report

AAS Informational Email – Mt. Stromlo Fire

By SpaceRef Editor
January 21, 2003
Filed under , ,

AAS INFORMATIONAL EMAIL – Mt. Stromlo Fire

From AAS President Catherine Pilachowski

Dear fellow AAS Members,

As many of you heard over the weekend, a series
of bush fires burning in and around Canberra,
Australia, has resulted in substantial damage
to the Mt. Stromlo Observatory.

This comes as a painful blow to the entire
astronomical community, but thankfully no life
was lost in the destruction of the facility,
although several residents of the Canberra area
have lost their lives. The fires are certainly a
natural disaster of the first order and many
observatory staff have lost their homes.

On behalf of the American Astronomical Society,
I have sent notes of concern and offers of
whatever assistance we can provide to both the
director of Mt. Stromlo and the appropriate staff
at the Australian National University. It is
heartening that the university has already
pledged to rebuild its astronomical research
infrastructure. A spectrograph destined for
the Gemini North telescope was destroyed in
the fire as well, which is a setback to many
researchers around the world. The
instrumentation labs have been damaged severely,
but the extent of the damage is not yet fully
assessed.

I am sure that we will all be following this
story through the news media, but I wanted
to let you know that a special web site has
been established at the Australian National
University with up-to-date information on the
situation and how to contact our colleagues
affiliated with Mt. Stromlo. The site can be
found at

http://www.anu.edu.au/fires/.

Email is the preferred form of communication
and extant email addresses for the staff will
still work. Of special note, the ANU has stated
that students planning to obtain a Ph.D. at
ANU in astronomy should continue on course,
which clearly shows the ANU’s commitment to the
astronomy program.

As our colleagues work to overcome this terrible
disaster, the AAS will do whatever we can to
help. At the present time the staff are dealing
with only the most pressing issues. It may be a
few weeks before the full damage is determined
and the most appropriate forms of assistance
identified. We will be sure to let all of you
know how you can help as soon as possible.

Included below is the message I sent to the
Dr. Penny Sackett, the current director of the
Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Mt. Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories.

Sincerely,

Caty Pilachowski,
AAS President

MESSAGE FROM CATHERINE A. PILACHOWSKI, PRESIDENT,
AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY TO THE ASTRONOMERS OF
MT. STROMLO AND THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

The American Astronomical Society and its members
are shocked and saddened by the devastating bush
fires which have destroyed so much of the
Mt. Stromlo Observatory and parts of the Australian
Capital Territory. Our condolences go out to
anyone who lost loved ones in this ongoing tragedy,
and we are extremely grateful that no members of
the observatory’s staff were lost.

We stand ready to assist our colleagues and friends
at Mt. Stromlo in any way we can to help rebuild
their research institution and carry on as one of
the premier research centers and observatories in
the world.

SpaceRef staff editor.