Father's Day weekend in the Seattle region brought a good amount of sunshine (YAY, FINALLY!!) and I took advantage of the weather to paint the observatory. I made very good progress but there still is work left to do - you can see the top panels are still bare and should be red, along with some of the trim. The observatory was painted to match the outbuilding and the house.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today I was able to complete most of the remodels to the observatory - the new roof rails are in place and the roof was fully retracted today (despite the rain); external outlets were installed; the building was trimmed in cedar (which is now WAY expensive ... ); and it was wired into the house security system. The only things left are rebuilding the door with a stronger, solid door and painting the exterior. Woohoo!

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 06:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After having the property logged, enough sky was opened up that the observatory had to be redesigned to allow the roof to retract further. Where only the southern ecliptic was visible before, the zenith and even Polaris might likely be in view now, provided the roof fully retract. Work is underway to extend the rails to make that possible.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 05:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This completes the permanent pier project, a mounting custom built to hold the Meade Ultrawedge and the 12" LX90 GPS. This is my own design but borrows from others I have seen on the Internet. The big decision was wood versus steel (or aluminum). I finally chose wood as it has better vibration-dampening characteristics than steel. These are solid 1 1/2 inch thick pieces of oak plywood, glued and pressed together to form a top and a bottom plate. It is adjustable for leveling and there are adjustments to allow the Ultrawedge to be moved as well. This still uses a shortened version of the center bolt with the knob and Meade compass. The yellow bubble level I set in place on the front reads ... perfectly level. :)

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here, the 12" Meade LX90 sits atop the permanent pier, on a mount built specifically for this pier and for the Meade Ultrawedge. A power receptacle will allow the telescope, computers and other accessories to be plugged in without having wires crossing the floor of the observatory.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the completion of the pier and electrical installations, I've finally hung the sign my father-in-law made for me ... right over the inside door to the observatory. :)

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 07:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is a composite photo of two frames, the first being a photo of Manchester, Washington, taken a few weeks ago; and the second, a shot of the moon snapped just last night.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I thought this would be fun ... an over-exposed shot of the moon to show the clouds in the sky. I'm not sure what star or planet is next to the moon, I didn't make note of it and too much time has passed now.

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday I got my new Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens, and I just had to try it out. It's not the camera, you know ... it's the lens. OMG! What a lens! Here is the moon at a mere 200 mm, 1/600th of a second (Canon EOS 20D) ... it doesn't get much better than this. See ... I told you you don't have to have a fancy telescope to get some breathtaking images. :)

Posted by Jim W Coleman at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)