NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory seems to be in the clear
from the threat of a nearby wildfire, but the historic observatory atop Mt. Wilson is potentially facing a closer call.
The so-called Station fire is burning in the Angeles National Forest near homes on the north side of La Caņada Flintridge, according to
news reports. The fire came
within one quarter to one eighth of a mile of JPL on Saturday, but has
since retreated.
Despite the lessened threat to JPL, the facility remained
closed on Monday "except for mission-critical personnel," according
to an update on the JPL website. The closure was made because of concerns about
air quality.
Historic Observatory
Concerns over the fire have shifted to nearby Mount Wilson,
where many of the L.A. Basin's cell phone and broadcast towers, as well as the
historic Mount
Wilson Observatory, are located. The observatory was found in 1904 by
George Ellery Hale, who used the observatory to prove that sunspots are regions
of reduced temperature on the sun's surface.
On Monday morning, firefighters who were working to stop
the spread of the fire were instructed to withdraw from the mountainside,
and Mount Wilson employees who had been making helicopter trips to the
observatory also left, according to updates on the observatory's website.
Firefighters had cleared brush from the mountain and laid
down Phos-Check fire retardant by airplane near the broadcast towers.
The station fire doubled in size overnight and now covers
about 85,000 acres, according to L.A. Times reports. While the observatory
appeared doomed last night, the Times reported, brush-clearing efforts and
fire-retardant drops seemed to have helped.
JPL effects
Ryan Anderson, a graduate student at Cornell who is also a
Pancam Payload Downlink Lead for the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, said
via Twitter that rover operations have been suspended for the day.
"The team working on extracting Spirit from Troy is not at JPL today since a one-day delay in those operations will not impact the
rover," said NASA spokeswoman Veronica McGregor.
JPL has also been impacted by the fire through employees who
have had to evacuate
their homes.
Astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech snapped
a picture of the fire's smoke plume on Friday, from the 9th floor of the
Caltech library, looking northeast towards downtown Pasadena and JPL. The
picture was taken when the fire was still about 2 miles away from JPL. Air
quality has improved over the day today, McGregor told SPACE.com, and JPL will
decide later whether to keep the facility closed tomorrow.
"We're monitoring the fire and the air quality and will
announce later today whether JPL will reopen to all personnel tomorrow morning,"
McGregor said.
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