Yale Telescope

On 18 January 2003 a bush fire destroyed Mount Stromlo Observatory with all its instruments. Of concern to Southern African astronomy  is the 26-inch  Parallax Refractor . This instrument was used  at Yale Observatory in Johannesburg until 1951. Groundbreaking work in measuring parallax and proper motions of stars were made with this telescope. It was then shipped to Australia and became operational again in 1951.