The Running Man Nebula

Figure 11 — Standing on top of the proposed location of the dome for theQEII Telescope on 1965 October 01: (L-R) Graham Odgers, Jack Locke, BertPetrie, Jean Petrie. The shiny roof between the heads of Odgers and Lockeis the fire lookout.Figure 12 — Bert Petrie changes film while standing on the rim of TestalindenLake, 1965 October 01. A Lilliputian Graham Odgers explores the “lake”bottom.During the winter of 1966-67, meteorologists on Mt. Kobaureported long, clear, horizontal icicles, an uncommon form ofrime ice. Some, over a half-metre long, were attached toinstrument housings where they caused little damage. Late inthe spring of 1967, the 47-m tower (Figure 10) was replacedby another twice its height in order to extend the range ofmicroturbulence studies. The new tower experienced severeicing conditions beginning in December 1967. Rime iceencased two of the three guy cables to a diameter of 25 cm,while very little ice or snow formed on the third cable or thetower itself. Removal of the asymmetrical ice load was trickyto avoid any sudden lurching of the tower from its leaningposition. A report about this incident by the installer concludes:“Icing in this area at the elevation of this particular tower isvery hazardous.” How hazardous became plain a month later.On the night of 1968 January 14, icing was severe in theextreme. During his daily visit to the summit next morning,the site manager for A.B. Sanderson, Jock Crawford, foundthat the top two-thirds of the tower had snapped off due toexcessive ice loading. It had plunged top down into the snowand ice and planted itself in a nearly vertical position less than2 m from the base of the shorter stump. The fog was too thickto photograph this astonishing chance alignment. There wasstill heavy fog when the tower’s suppliers arrived to inspectthe damage on January 16. Because ice kept thickening onboth sections of the tower, the inspection team toppled both(Figure 15). This time the collapse was blamed on theaccumulation of ice on the tower itself. According to McLernon(1968) “... rime ice built up on the SW edge of the tower(18-inch cross-section) to a width of 24 inches.”The consulting engineers for the QE II Observatory admittedrime ice was a serious problem. But, they were confident thattechnical solutions could be found to control its formation onlarge domes. A glance at the ice-encased cabin on the rightside of Figure 15 suggests it was probably fortunate that theopportunity to pursue this matter did not arise.When I returned to the mountain camp for a couple of weeksin late June 1967, I was astonished by the luxuriant knee-highcover of wild flowers surrounding the entire camp and ourobserving platforms (Figure 16). To my surprise, the forestedarea toward the north end of the ridge was devoid of onceconspicuouslodgepole pine. When I drove over to investigate,I found numbers of collapsed pine blocking my way. Reportsof a snowpack over 4 m deep at the QEII site in early 1967accounted for spring’s luxuriant verdure. I imagined that a snowpackof that depth in the forested areas would have supportedthe lower trunks of the lodgepole, while winter gales mighthave ripped off the foliage-laden tops. But, Mt. Kobau was notsubject to gale-force winds. It is more likely that rime-producingfogs encased feathery clusters of pine needles with such aburden of ice that the slender upper trunks of the pinessnapped, just like the metal tower.Figure 13 — Mel Lytle builds a form for a cement pad to support a 4-m highconcrete pillar for a solar refractor, 1966 July 29.June / juin 2011JRASC | Promoting Astronomy In Canada101