spacetoday.net: Observatories survive Chilean earthquake unscathed

Observatories survive Chilean earthquake unscathed

Posted: Tue, Mar 2, 2010, 7:23 AM ET (1223 GMT)
Several major observatories in Chile made it through Saturday's massive earthquake without significant damage. The magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile in the early morning hours Saturday, killing hundreds and causing extensive damage in the Chilean cities of Concepcion and Santiago. However, major observatories located in Chile, including the European Southern Observatory, Gemini South, and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory all reported no major damage to their facilities, although the quake did cause power and communications outages for a time. In addition, JPL reported that neither a NASA instrument, Aquarius, nor the Argentinean satellite SAC-D it's being integrated with, suffered damage in a facility in Argentina about 600 kilometers from the quake's epicenter,