Monthly Archives: October 2019

Oct 31 2019

The Pier is Poured

Yesterday the concrete for the telescope’s pier was poured. What an exciting moment in this telescope’s history. The contractors used a very large Sonotube held rigidly in place with a temporary framework of wood and cables. Internally there is quite the framework of rebar to help reinforce the pier’s strength. A few conduits were also placed inside for electrical and data lines which will drive the telescope. Images (click on them to enlarge):

pier

A view of the building’s site with the framework around the Sonotube for the pier.

pier

A closeup of the pier near the completion of the pour.

Pier

A wide field view of the site.

Oct 24 2019

0.7m Telescope Observatory Construction Begins

This will likely be a series of posts involving some very exciting news here at the observatory: We are adding a new observatory building complete with dome and telescope! Very much exciting times! The new structure will be 16’25’ in dimension with a 16′ diameter dome on the south side. The interior will be divided into two sections: the telescope/equipment room and the control room. A wall with large glass window will separate the two so that people can work with low-level red lighting while keeping the telescope and its sensitive instrumentation in the dark and away from the heat of humans which can cause disturbing air currents.

Artists Impression of the 0.7m Dome

Artists Impression of the 0.7m Telescope Dome.

The telescope is a PlaneWave 0.70m diameter modified Dall-Kirkham optical system with two ports. One port will hold a CCD imager with filter wheel. The other will attach to a fiber-fed echelle spectrograph.  It is difficult to imagine the scale of such an instrument. The telescope alone weighs over 1500 pounds! For a comparison here I am standing besides the same model of instrument at a recent American Astronomical Society meeting.

PlaneWave 0.7m telescope with the author

Ground breaking started a couple of weeks ago. Concrete pouring started today for the pier footing and the footing for the building’s foundation. This will help give a sense of scale the final structure.

The Initial Dig

The boundaries of the structure have been posted here with wooden stakes. The ground is being prepped to dig for the base level foundation.

Gravel base

The gravel base for the concrete has been laid here. Looking closely you can see the inset region in the gravel where the pier for the telescope will rest.

Initial Concrete Pour

The initial concrete pour which took place today. The central region is the base for the telescope pier. The surrounding is the base for the building’s foundation.