After Mars, telescopes parts lost in space

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Euphoria at Mars' closest encounter with Earth quickly turned sour for management of the astronomical observatory center Planetarium in the Ismail Marzuki art center in Cikini, Central Jakarta, as they realized on Thursday morning that essential parts of two telescopes were missing.

The missing parts included a 40-centimeter long Starfinder telescope and an eyepiece. Both parts were allegedly looted by an angry mob, who had turned violent after waiting their turn to gaze at the fourth planet in the Milky Way galaxy on Wednesday night.

"Those devices are imported and we can't continue our research activities without them," said Sugiarto, a staff member of the center, as quoted by Detik.com news portal.

The telescope of Takasaki brand is imported from Japan.

The missing parts were mostly from the largest telescope. The Planetarium only has three telescopes: two small and one big.

"A mirror, which was part of the largest telescope, was also gone," said Sugiarto, calling for those who took the parts to return them to the center.

"The devices are hard to procure as we cannot purchase them separately but only in a complete package," he said.

However, the incident was not reported to the Menteng Police subprecinct. Police officers only arrived at the site after journalists told them about the missing equipment.

According to Sugiarto, his office will evaluate whether or not they will have an observation session in September.

The Planetarium opens to the public for six days in a month.

Thousands of stargazers packed the Planetarium to see Mars at its closest proximity to the Earth. It is usually a calm place, where visitors can contemplate the intricacies of the universe with a handful of others. Astronomers say that the natural phenomenon previously happened some 60,000 years ago and will repeat in another 205 years.

Wildly impatient visitors smashed the glass panels of the building and entered the premises to take turns at gazing at the rare sight.

The management had prepared a 54-inch screen television set so that the planet could be seen by all visitors, as captured by the telescope. But how could they have anticipated that the seemingly peaceful preoccupation would turn into a frenzied kerfuffle for one of the best views in the city?

They sorely regret police personnel weren't employed to safeguard the event.