Observatory Project

Day 1, March 25th 2006.  The canvas observatory tent has served me well, but time to put a real observatory down.  Since the backyard is almost entirely ledge, there won't be much cement or even a pier.

So here's what I started with, a canvas tent with a 2x4 frame on the interior.

Tent is down, frame needs disassembling, little Laura loo helping me put away the tent hardware... anyone want a tent?

Note that big pinetree will no longer be blocking my view of the North American Nebula!  Those blocks are sitting on the granite ledge

7:00pm, a single floor panel is in, time to call it a night!  Tomorrow I'll frame the rest of the floor and get the scope tripod in.

Day 2, March 26th, 2006.  Late start, church ran long.  Got the rest of the footers down (still need to dig holes for support posts for the rolltop roof).  Got the three cinder blocks in for the tripod.

Those three cinder blocks will support the scope tripod.  Note they are independent from the floor, so there should be no vibration from walking around the observatory.

Taken the next morning, floor is complete and one wall studded and ready to go.

Day 3, Saturday Apr 1st, getting the walls up.  All t1-11, thin as paper, but don't have to use siding

Day 4, Sunday Apr 2nd.  Here's my fancy roof rolling mechanism, yes, those are 6" lawnmower tires.

Yawwwwwnnnn... End of day 4, walls framed, rolltop roof frame is on, and lo and behold, it works.  We'll see how it handles a full load next week.

Day 5, April 9th, only got one day to work on this as I had to start working on the dock up at the rental house.  Goal was to get the roof on and retracted so the observatory would be ready for next new moon.

End of the day April 9th 2006, roof is on and is fully retracted.  With a tarp overhead the observatory is now functional..

From this view you can see the 4x4 posts supporting the retracted roof.  Believe it or not, those pressure treated 2x6's jetting out from inside the observatory bear almost the entire load, the 4x4's are just additional support.

Day 6 Easter Sunday Apr 16th

Well, the observatory is now useable!  The exterior has two coats of stain (that t1-11 just soaks up stain), the rear cross supports are on, the face boards are on, drip guard all around and although not visible in the this photo, two corner desks and some shelving are in.  Scope went in shortly after this photo was taken, now just waiting for a nice clear night!  Still lots of work to be done, including a real roof, but the rush to make it water tight is over.

Lots of days later... Aug 6th 2006

Well, I slowed down work on the observatory once it was functional.  On the weekend of Aug 6th I FINALLY got the door on.  I still have some trim work to do and get the metal roof on firmly, but that's pretty much it.  I have the shelving & desktops in the observatory, the tripod fixed on the cinder blocks and freeflowing electricity, wooohoooo!  Here's the observatory with the roof rolled back so you can see the Tak e-160.

Inside view of the scope on the cinder blocks.

Shelving and desk space.

Lots of glorious open sky that needs to be photographed!