From ashes, a return to star-gazing.(FEATURES)(PLANET)

From: The Christian Science Monitor | Date: March 3, 2005 | Copyright information

Byline: Peter N. Spotts Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

MT. STROMLO, AUSTRALIA -- When a searing brush fire savaged the Canberra region two years ago, it destroyed one of astronomy's crown jewels: the Mt. Stromlo Observatory.

In 20 minutes on this gently rounded mountaintop, the fire incinerated five telescopes and their domes, a historic administration building, a library housing $4 million worth of volumes, and a workshop building cutting-edge custom detectors and optics systems for telescopes around the globe. It was so hot the aluminum on the site burned ...

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