SRO includes 12 observatories housing more than 50 telescopes up to 0.7 meters in size.
Although SRO survived, parts of the nearby town did not. Several homes and businesses were left in ash and ruin.
The Creek Fire tore through Auberry, California, leaving utter destruction in its wake.
This isn’t the kind of mess you can wipe up with a Swiffer Duster.
Ash from the wildfire coats a telescope tube. Careful cleaning and restoration were needed to prevent permanent damage to the scopes and return SRO to functionality.
In early October, a team from PlaneWave Instruments traveled to SRO to help with cleanup efforts, bringing with them an arsenal of paper towels, bottles of dish soap, and distilled water.
Smoke from the still-active fire hung in the air, coloring the sky and eerie orange and diminishing air quality as the team worked.
Many parts of Auberry and the area surrounding SRO were damaged by the fire.
The cleanup team worked diligently to carefully remove contaminants from each mirror, strut, and baffle.
Rescuing delicate mirrors from grit and grime requires care and the right tools.
If left in place, ash and other contaminants from the fire would not only reduce image quality, but affect the telescopes and their materials over time.
SRO houses telescopes both large and small, often requiring a team effort to clean.
One of the cleanup crew shows off the dirt removed from the primary mirror of a CDK17 telescope.
The primary mirror of a CDK17 after cleaning, restored to its original shine.
After cleaning, this CDK700 is ready to get back to work observing the California skies.