Wind Damages Country’s Highest Astronomical Observatory
By Sarah Jane Keller Email Author April 23, 2012
The atmosphere is a nuisance for optical telescopes, so placing them on mountaintops where the air is thinner is a good strategy. But this winter, being above the riffraff was too much for North America’s highest astronomical observatory.
Sometime after October, no one knows exactly when, violent winds over Colorado’s Front Range blew the 15-year-old observatory’s dome to pieces.
The University of Denver’s Myer-Womble Observatory is perched at 14,148 feet near the summit of Mount Evans. “The elevation is the main thing going for it, and of course by getting above low altitude one gets above the haze layers,” said the observatory’s director and DU astronomer, Robert Stencel, “It also buys you very clear, dry, and stable air overhead at times.”
Earlier this winter, Stencel and his students looked at the building’s interior webcam and noticed unusual shadows inside. Then Stencel found some photos that winter hikers posted online. Something seemed wrong on the mountain.
In summer, visitors can take North America’s highest road to Myer-Womble, but it’s a cold and lonely place in the winter. Stencel recruited mountaineer Adam Jones, who is training to climb Everest, to check out the observatory. Jones hiked up above the weatherbeaten tree line and discovered a big hole in the observatory’s 22-foot dome.
more
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/jet-stream-observatory-damage/
