* Astronomy

A wildfire in the Arizona mountains south of Tucson is threatening the Fred Whipple Observatory on Mt. Hopkins.
The "Florida" fire, named after the mountain peak where the fire started July 7, has approached to within 1.6 km of the Observatory. The observatory is home to several telescopes, including the 6.5-meter MMT Telescope.



Fire-fighters and observatory workers have taken precautions, including soaking the area around the observatory with a wet slurry and moving expensive equipment from exterior walls. The fire's spread has slowed, but fire-fighters warn it could still spread quickly towards the observatory under the right conditions.

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