GirlHacker's Random Log

almost daily since 1999

 

As firefighters battle to save the Mount Wilson Observatory from L.A. County’s Station Fire, the caretakers of a less well-known observatory are anxious to hear the fate of their cinder block and metal structure six miles away. Stony Ridge Observatory was built by 15 amateur astronomers who paved the road, dug the foundation, and even ground the glass for the telescope lens. There are several movies capturing the construction. It was completed in 1963 and used the next year to map the moon for potential Apollo program landing sites. The Station Fire has damaged other structures in the area and the road up is blocked so they won’t know the condition of Stony Ridge until it is safe to take a helicopter over.

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