Completion At Last!

The structure was completed and painted. I thought long and hard about how I would conceal the batteries (4 RV deep cycle) within the observatory. The only thing that made sense was to build a separate little shed for them on the north side of the building. I used one of the forms used to pour the pier as the floor and built the rest with available siding scraps. I barely had enough.

The main power source for all of the facilities at PSWLAP is the sun. Paul and I installed new array of 4 photovoltaic panels on Christmas day to the cabin. We took the 2 panel array that had been for the cabin and dedicated it to the observatory. Thanks so much to Paul who spent his Christmas holiday digging a trench for the wiring!

The scope was installed on Christmas day and the observatory and the large scope saw its first light that night. It was a cold and very dark night. The new C11 proved itself to be a great scope. Nearly perfect airy rings. I mounted a Vixen 102mm refractor side by side in a saddle mount.

The scopes are mounted on a Losmandy G11 equatorial head which in turn is mounted on a Losmandy pier. The polar alignement was done once and turned out to be right on target verified with a 20 minute drift test in the east and at the zenith.

The roof rolls off fairly easily and I can do it without aid. We have only had minor problems with the light weight sheet metal tracks pinching the wheels. I keep bending it away from them in hopes that it won't continue. I may end up replacing the tracks with angle iron.

I would like to sincerely thank Paul and Bryan for their back breaking help. In addition I am very grateful for the many members of TAC that offered so much great advice.... especially Dave North who convinced me to build it larger than 8'x8'! The current 10'x12' size is just perfect for this size instrument.