My interest in astronomy dates back to the time when I, as a third-grader, got a copy of Fred Hoyle's Frontiers of Astronomy. I read it over and over, practically memorizing it, fascinated by the idea that we could actually figure out what was going on inside an object that was just a tiny pinpoint of white light.
It wasn't too long after that that I got a small telescope; later, as a high-school freshman, I got a larger telescope. It wasn't too long after that that I wanted an observatory so I wouldn't have to lug the thing in and out of the house!
Lo these many years later, the time for an observatory has come. After a protracted search of the numerous places in the southwest desert that qualify as near, at, or in the middle of nowhere (so the sky will be nice and dark at night, that's why), but still within shouting distance of utility service, land has been procured. What follows is the chronicle of the transformation of 40 acres of high desert into my vision of astronomical nirvana.
So, like Dorothy, we begin by putting one foot in front of another as we follow the treacherous road to The Emerald City (or at least an observatory with electricity and indoor plumbing :-).
FLASH! (3/17/00): Ten months on the waiting list has finally paid off - I've been allowed to place an order for an Astro-Physics 1200GTO mount. Delivery time is sometime this fall; unfortunately, the observatory will be nowhere near completion when it arrives.
FLASH! (07/26/00): An order was placed today for a 400mm (16") Astro Optik LOMO Hypergraph, which will be the main imaging instrument at the observatory. Delivery time is 10 - 12 months; at the current rate, the observatory will not be ready when the telescope gets here.
FLASH! (08/24/00): I placed the winning bid on Astromart (a used astronomy equipment forum) for a slightly used Software Bisque Paramount GT-1100 mount. This will be the mount for the second pier in the observatory. Now if I only had a telescope ...
FLASH! (11/29/00): The Astro-Physics 1200GTO mount I ordered 'way back on March 17 has finally arrived! Somehow, it looks out of place sitting on the floor in the library - I sure hope this observatory gets done soon!
This is what the observatory looked like on April 3, 2001, after the steelwork was installed. Compare this to the hole as it looked when first dug, and to the basement as it looked just after completion of the walls.
After installing four 5x5 steel support columns in the basement, a 40-foot steel I-beam was dropped in. Steel plates were placed around the top of the block walls, and the bridge decking you see in this photo was laid from the wall to wall across the I-beam and welded into place.
Just after this photo was taken, work started on placing the rebar for the concrete roof. On Tuesday, April 10, the 7" thick concrete roof will be poured.
The pit in the foreground is the stairwell from the observing floor down to the basement. It will get built up another 3 feet with concrete blocks, and then, after waiting 3 weeks for the concrete to cure, the basement will finally be buried. Dirtwork will be completed to final grade, and then construction will begin on the observing building.
(Oh, and for those of you who've been following along, it should come as no surprise that it began to rain the day after this photo was taken. Despite its location in the desert, rain has been the constant companion of this project.)
Next up: burying the basement
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Terry R. Friedrichsen
terry@venus.sunquest.com