What's wrong with this picture?The summer night sky is clear, andmoonlight illuminates the dome of th Hale 200-inch Telescope a Palomar Observatory,northeast of San Diego, California, USA.The familiar stars of th Teapot asterism in the constellatio Sagittariusshine above the dome and to the right.In fact, the only thing wrong with the picture is thatthe observatory dome's two massive shuttersare closed tight ... on a clear night.This extremely unusual situation is a precautionprompted by the presence of airborne ash and smoke fro wildfiresin the area on July 17which could have damaged th historic mirror's aluminum coating.Amateur astronomer Greg Redfern notes that thisyear has been a particularly bad one for observatories andwildfires, with th Mt. StromloAustralian Observatorydisaster and fires also threatening telescopes on MountLemmon near Tucson, Arizona.
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