In August, I posted about how the pandemic had caused most big observatories to halt observing. Now, more than nine months into the pandemic, observatories are beginning to reopen. This is good news.
After more than six months of COVID-related closures, observational astronomy is largely getting back to work.
Many of the world’s biggest telescopes have reopened their domes in recent weeks, returning their gazes to the heavens for the first time since the pandemic forced a global shutdown of observational astronomy in March. Other major telescopes expect to reopen soon.
This wave of reopenings was buoyed by declining COVID-19 cases in Chile, especially in the Atacama Desert, a region home to many world-class observatories. U.S. officials who manage telescopes in Hawaii and Arizona say they’re also beginning to resume operations, largely thanks to significant changes in their workflows.
If major observatories continue to come back online — and remain open — it will end an unprecedented dark era in astronomy. After all, even during World War II, America’s observatories kept a close eye on the skies.
All is not rosy, however. As the article points out, observations have been drastically affected by travel restrictions and maintenance (for example, cleaning the huge mirrors) cut way back because of staff shortages.
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