Sunday, February 17, 2008

Black Hole discoverer to be eaten by land developers

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The facility that first confirmed the existence of black holes now faces annihilation behind a $100M event horizon at the hands of land developers.

I have written about this previously, here.

A new link from the Richmond Hill Naturalists can be found here. They have set up an online petition.
  • The text and form can be found here. The signature form is at the bottom of the petition text page.
This is a sad development on many levels.

Please add your voice!

An satellite view of the site is available here.

Some of the issues include:
  • While light pollution has been cited as crippling the scope, observations are made using instruments that see light that is outside the range people can see.
  • While the telescope cannot see to the edges of the universe like larger and more modern scopes, it can continue to do useful research.
  • The disposition of the telescope is uncertain and may be left up to the buyer.
  • The site is considered historical by many, including possible archeological interest.
  • The site is also of environmental interest.
Some recent coverage of the proposed sale:

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