The CANGAROO gamma-ray observatory at Woomera in Australia’s outback has been
dragged, blinking and dazzled, into the spotlight. Just 8 kilometres away, an old military
camp was recently refitted as a detention centre for illegal immigrants, complete with
a ring of floodlights around the perimeter. For the observatory, that means the once-dark
sky is now intolerably bright. CANGAROO and the department of immigration are in
negotiations over who should pay the A$0.5 million needed to dim, redirect and barricade
the lights.
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