Bulls-Eye

A big astronomical observatory, perched serenely on its remote mountain top and housing almost priceless equipment and records, should be--and is--among the safest places in the world. The steel dome and frame conduct lightning harmlessly to the ground. Steel and concrete cannot be set afire by a careless smoker. The cleared area around an observatory site would stop a forest fire short of damage to the instruments. A telescope anchored through concrete is practically earthquake-proof. Windstorms and hail are trifling annoyances.

Last week a spectacular and unprecedented accident happened to the University of California's famed Lick Observatory, first of the big mountain-top star-stations, perched on triple-peaked, 4,209-ft. Mt. Hamilton. An army attack plane, flying on instruments through fog, hit the main observatory building like a rifle bullet aimed at a bull's-eye.

The plane crashed through two 18-inch brick walls, littered the observatory's sleek marble floor with broken bricks, mortar, gasoline, wreckage. Both aviators were killed. The telescope (a 36-inch refractor) was not damaged and no astronomers were hurt. But two offices containing precious photographs were wrecked.

"I worked 30 years," moaned Astronomer Joseph Haines Moore, "taking pictures and getting together data on Polaris, the North Star. Now the plates are broken and lost. I feel badly about that, but I feel much worse about the fate of those two boys. . . ."

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