I can see that blogspot isn't going to be a permenant host for our Observatory blog. A few things that are frusterating:
Reverse-chronolgical order of posting. If the blog is setup like a story (such as this one), who wants to read it from bottom to top?
Editing. Now it's not letting me edit my older posts... or at least I don't know how. How frusterating.
My dad went through the previous posts and commented on a few things:
1) The observatory dimensions. Originally we were trying to avoid a building permit; however, we decided to go with a larger observatory of: 10'x10' scope room, 10' x 12' warm room, and 10'x12' garage/shop. The building inspector is only interested in the electrical wiring (I just thinks he wants to take a peek at the observatory!)
2) The "pirate spyglass" refractor that I played with as a kid. Dad says it was only a 1.5". My memory claims it was at least a 4", but then again, I was much smaller then...
*Funny.....Now that I posted this post, I am allowed to edit my previous posts. Oh well, I guess I can scratch #2 off the list of things I dislike about blogspot.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
14" Celestron SCT and the Observatory
The scope arrived September 10, 2009. We were simply stunned with the quality of the optics. I had never imagined seeing the planets with such color and clarity -even before sundown- without going to a large observatory.
It became quite apperent that we could not align the scope every night -not to mention lug the 20lb counter weights in and out of the house. The scope would need a new home.
A quick google search found this site:
obs.nineplanets.org/obs/obslist.html
This site shows a listing of amateur observatories from all over the world. From ideas gleaned from the amateur websites, my dad came up with the following idea for the observatory:
1) Retractable roof housing the scope
2) Heated/cooled "warm room" with sheetrocked walls, computer, mini-fridge, couch, etc. with a window to the scope room
3) Building would be sided and built to match the house
4) No crouching to get into the scope room. My dad is 6' 4", and nothing less then a standard door would be required to access the scope room.
In order to keep this observatory within budget, we had decided on a roll-over roof utilizing a garage door opener. However, before we broke ground, my dad stumbled upon Exploradome: a relatively inexpensive way to get a domed observatory.
Although I was a bit hesitant to use a Polyethelyne dome in the dry, hot, Utah desert, the dome presented less of a problem then the retractable roof setup. In the end, we decided on a long building comprising:
-10'x10' scope room, elevated to allow for "standard size" door entry.
-10' x 10' warm room, with windows, insulation, air conditioning, and heater
-10' x 8' garage with rollup door. If we were building an observatory, Mom was demanding some space to get the lawn mower and other tools out of the garage! The 8' dimension was chosen to keep the square footage below the requirement for a county building permit.
The observatory was going to be stick built, according to standards and codes used for residental housing. This meant full cement foundation, pre-fabricated roof trusses, 2x4 walls, etc
It became quite apperent that we could not align the scope every night -not to mention lug the 20lb counter weights in and out of the house. The scope would need a new home.
A quick google search found this site:
obs.nineplanets.org/obs/obslist.html
This site shows a listing of amateur observatories from all over the world. From ideas gleaned from the amateur websites, my dad came up with the following idea for the observatory:
1) Retractable roof housing the scope
2) Heated/cooled "warm room" with sheetrocked walls, computer, mini-fridge, couch, etc. with a window to the scope room
3) Building would be sided and built to match the house
4) No crouching to get into the scope room. My dad is 6' 4", and nothing less then a standard door would be required to access the scope room.
In order to keep this observatory within budget, we had decided on a roll-over roof utilizing a garage door opener. However, before we broke ground, my dad stumbled upon Exploradome: a relatively inexpensive way to get a domed observatory.
Although I was a bit hesitant to use a Polyethelyne dome in the dry, hot, Utah desert, the dome presented less of a problem then the retractable roof setup. In the end, we decided on a long building comprising:
-10'x10' scope room, elevated to allow for "standard size" door entry.
-10' x 10' warm room, with windows, insulation, air conditioning, and heater
-10' x 8' garage with rollup door. If we were building an observatory, Mom was demanding some space to get the lawn mower and other tools out of the garage! The 8' dimension was chosen to keep the square footage below the requirement for a county building permit.
The observatory was going to be stick built, according to standards and codes used for residental housing. This meant full cement foundation, pre-fabricated roof trusses, 2x4 walls, etc
Scope History
(Photo by Appaloosa, from Wikipedia article on intel's 386 processor).This Observatory has been in the works for the past 30 years. My father has always been a sci-buff since before I was born. When I was four or five, I would "gently" play with his 4" refractor. It made an excellent pirate spyglass. I don't recall breaking it though.............
I remember in the early 80's he would hide a Celestron catalog under his bed. The pages most looked at were the Schmidt-Cassegrain line, specifically the 8" SCT.
I remember vividly when he had finally saved up for the scope of his dreams, yet he pilfered from that account to purchase a state-of-the-art Intel 386 DX4 PC -the last computer one would ever need- with a 20MB hard drive and 2MB of RAM. Just so that I could play Sim City (it wasn't even called Sim City Classic at the time!).
As time went on, the scope account would be ransacked for numerous family vacations and the necessary equipment: Trips to Southern Utah, Disneyland, Jeeps, camp trailers, etc. Not to mention helping out with college tution.
Such sacrifices didn't go unoticed, and my father never complained -nor did he hesitate- to divert funds away from his precious telescope if it created memories for the family.
As time went on, I graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I found myself fortunate enough to find a job at my home town (where I also met my wife).
During the 40 minute comute to and from work, the topic would ocassionaly turn to the elusive SCT scope. This time, I decided to get involved. Being the good son I am, I informed him that an 8" would be too small, and that only a 14" would do. Especially now the kids were out of the house, it was time to think big. It took a couple of months, but after dozens of online links showing the photographic differances between images from an 8" and 14", he was sold.
All of this was nothing but talk, until one day my dad found out that Celestron was changing mounts on the 14" SCT's. The new mount was superior; however, it was also thousands of dollars more expensive.
It became apperent that if an older-style 14" SCT was not acquired soon, the 14" class would be forever out of economic reach. The search was on.
Luckily, one of the last 14" SCT's available in the US was found and purchased. On September 10, 2009, the 14" SCT arrived at its new home in Oak City, Utah.
Welcome to the Anabrus Simplex
Hi! Welcome visitors. This site is dedicated to the construction and comissioning of my Father's observatory in small Oak City, Utah.
For those not familiar with this small town, it's in Centeral/Western Utah, population of 650, and nearly hosted the A-Bomb project during WWII. It was the first choice, but was eventually dismissed because they were worried about displacing the farmers and losing the acerage. Personally, I think they were worried about the after math of tight-nit LDS families being displaced. The news would spread like wildfire. Not good for top secret projects!
Oak City is also occasionally plagued by the foul Mormon Cricket. These crickets can infest the town in such numbers that cars have been known to hydroplane due to the sheer number of crickets on the streets.
Since we are still looking for a good name for the observatory, I have decided to name this blog after the scientific name for the Mormon Cricket: Anabrus Simplex. If not for the sole reason that it has a cool ring to it, and anything with an "x" in the title gets taken a bit more seriously.
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