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
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