Road to Oracle Observatory

House vs Observatory

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:43:51 -0700

One of the things I had been wondering about was answered today. I did not know how much sky would be covered by the house at the location I had selected for my observatory. As discussed on the “Road to Oracle” blog, the roof trusses have now been added to the house so it is easy to see how high the house will be as seen from the observatory location. The photo above shows the view to the northeast from the approximate planned location of my 8” telescope. As you can see, very little sky will be lost, and conveniently, the house is behind a tree. Of course, all the exterior lighting (what little there will be) will be “dark sky” compliant so lights will not be an issue.

New Telescope is a Keeper!

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:35:35 -0700

On the last report (15 October) I mentioned that I received a new 8” LX200-ACF telescope from Meade. Over this past weekend I did some testing on two nights while at Oracle Observatory. You can read my full report there but the new telescope is definitely a keeper! I have updated the virtual view of the SkyShed POD at Oracle Observatory that I posted last time. The concrete slab perspective is now more accurate.

Virtual POD at Oracle Observatory

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:25:28 -0700

Using Adobe Photoshop I created this virtual view of what the SkyShed POD might look like at Oracle Observatory. The perspective is off for the “concrete slab” but this was a quick attempt at the look. But still, I think the POD will look nice in this location.

In other news, today I received a new Meade 8” LX200-ACF telescope. It is a replacement for the 8” LX90-ACF telescope that had a problem. I have started a new reports page on my 8” LX200-ACF.

Groundbreaking for Observatory!

Tue, 7 Oct 2008 17:15:39 -0700

As was mentioned on our "Road to Oracle" blog, we broke ground for our new home on 19 September 2008. That means things have begun that will ultimately end up with an observatory! The view above (looking south) and the view below (looking north) show the area where the observatory will be located. These are “before” photos.

As of today the ground has been cleared for the observatory. Here is how the area looks now (looking south and north, respectively):

The guys at SkyShedPOD continue to enhance the POD. Not only have they released a Green POD (GPOD; mentioned on my 21 June 2008 blog entry), they have a couple of new options that I may consider for my GPOD.

The first is the POD Zenith Table (PZT), which allows the dome to be moved off for viewing the zenith.

Here is a video of the PZT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DObFEnMamOg

The other new option is a "visor". It is lowered down out of the dome for blocking wind or lights.

The last piece of news is that Meade just sent me a new 8” LX90-ACF telescope. It took them several months but they have resolved the major mechanical issue I discussed in my 8” LX90-ACF Reports. My initial tests have been positive. Tomorrow night I plan to do more extensive testing at Oracle Observatory. Watch those sites for an update.

One last item. Adding comments to this blog should now work again. If you have bookmarked the main blog page you need to edit the bookmark; changing the saved URL from www.mac.com to www.me.com will correct the problem.

Building Permit - Not Required

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 12:19:22 -0700

While visiting the Pinal County Building Safety Department on 15 August, I asked if a building permit would be required for the observatory (a SkyShed POD). The house construction plans we submitted showed the location of the observatory on the Site Plan, along with the electrical power and observatory concrete slab size. I was informed that a building permit would not be required when I was ready to set up the observatory next year.

In other news, according to information on the OPT web site, the LX90 should begin shipping again this month. I’m still waiting for my repaired 8” LX90-ACF to be shipped back to me.