iTelescope.Net Siding Spring Opens 4 days after Bush-fire hits!

We are pleased to announce that the iTelescope.Net Siding Spring Observatory is back online! Observations carried out remotely on all our Australian SSO telescopes has resumed.

The observatory withstood the fire without a scratch, we had minor amounts of ash inside the building, and most of the telescopes have already been cleaned and are ready to go!

A big thank you to the ANU and all of the people involved in getting iTelescope.Net South back online!

Brad Moore
Managing Director
iTelescope.Net Pty Ltd

Firestorm Hits SSO - iTelescope Official Report

iTelescope.Net SSO Update Monday 14th Jan 2013

Official damage reports have come back from the ANU, the iTelescope.Net observatory and our residential cottage have been completely unscathed by the fire, to quote 'the observatory looks as good as it was the day before the fires'. 

At the moment essential services to Siding Spring have been cut, we have no mains power and no water. Internet access is still being delivered to the site.

The site has a large backup diesel generator which is capable of suppling the entire site with power, we are of the understanding that the ANU is planning to keep the generator running until mains power is reconnected.

Initial reports are that the power lines have been cut in many locations and that the road leading up to the observatory is damaged and has many downed trees lying across the road.

At the moment it is not safe for us to return back to our cottage and the observatory, as fires are continuing to burn around mountain, we have fire response units onsite to deal with this threat.  At this stage there is no immediate fire threat to our observatory, as most of the surrounding bush has been completely incinerated to the ground.

The damage we have sustained is very minimal, we have lost our Internet communications feed between the main administration building and the observatory, we will be conducting a damage assessment ourselves once we get back onsite.

We will be working closely with the ANU and other agencies to assist with the site wide recovery efforts.

I am expecting at best the observatory to be offline for a number of days, assuming we can make prompt repairs to our Internet feed. It is hard to give an exact number until we get back onsite. We will work as fast as we can to safely bring the observatory back online.

We also need to wait for the smoke and ash to clear as the fire is continuing to burn out of control away from the observatory.

Many of our friends and work colleagues have not been so lucky, many live at the base of the mountain and most have had their homes destroyed, reports indicate that 54 homes have been lost.

The Siding Spring observatory complex did sustain some damage, the Directors Cottage, two storage sheds and 'The Lodge' were burnt to the ground. Some other buildings sustained minor damage to infrastructure. 

The ANU has already put a response team onsite to assess the damage and to begin the repair process. 

I would like to thank the fire fighting crews who place their own lives at risk to protect our observatory and the other assets onsite. 

Here is the official update from the ANU:

http://news.anu.edu.au/2013/01/08/fire-risk-information-for-anu-staff-and-students/

Amanda Bauer is a fellow SSO astronomer, you can follow her blog posts:

http://amandabauer.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/siding-spring-observatory-fires.html

ABC News Reports:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-14/homes-destroyed-in-nsw-bushfire/4463136

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/01/14/3669241.htm

We will keep you posted as more information comes to hand. Please follow our Facebook feed and twitter for the latest news. www.facebook.com/itelescope and http://twitter.com/iTelescope_Net

Best Regards,

Brad Moore
Managing Director
iTelescope.Net Pty Ltd

First Light for iTelescope SSO

We finally have a roof that will roll off under power, and we could not wait to get things rolling either!

Under less than perfect skies we got to work on configuring the telescopes already installed and had a pleasant surprise. After the careful pre-alignment process as the piers and telescope were installed during the past few weeks, the actual polar alignment was very close and target stars appeared in the fields of view the very first time!

T12 was the first system to receive adjustments to its PME mount, with only minor azimuth movements needing to be made. None in altitude! Its was stunning and we saved much time. Passing cloud became an issue sadly and we managed to get a preliminary focus configuration done before the weather set in and the roof had to be closed for safety. Christmas eve night saw several heavy summer storms pass over Siding Spring Mountain.

We did however manage to test T12 on its first 'slew to target' before we packed up. Shown here is the dramatic NGC2070, The Tarantula Nebula. A fast 60 second shot through passing cloud. Its only the first of countless images that the iTelescope membership will soon be gathering under the southern skies of iTelescope Australia!