How Telescopes Deal With Earthquakes In Chile

Posted by kdawson on Saturday February 27, 2010 @09:52AM from the why-is-that-star-making-lissajous-curves dept.

Reader edgeofphysics provides a technical sidelight on the earthquake in Chile this morning — some details on how the European Southern Observatory protects the mirrors of the Very Large Telescope when an earthquake strikes. "Given that Chile is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, how do astronomers protect their giant telescopes that have been built or are being built in the Chilean Andes? This blog post discusses how Chile's most advanced facility protects its priceless 8.2-meter primary mirrors in the event of an earthquake."

3 of 82 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

I have a suggestion for a story by florescent_beige · 2010-02-27 10:29 · Score: -1, Troll

How does it affect kdawson's ability to play WoW when his mom dies of cancer.

--
Equine Mammals Are Considerably Smaller
Re:They've got giant telescopes by Anonymous Coward · 2010-02-27 10:29 · Score: -1, Troll

^ Foxnews watcher
Poor taste by DerekLyons · 2010-02-27 17:00 · Score: -1, Troll

I think it's particularly bad taste to be blogging about how resistant you are to earthquakes when many people are dead and suffering just a short distance away due to an earthquake.